Wrestling season well underway for Cedaredge, Delta

“Anytime you compete against a program like Junction High, it’s good when you can get things going early,” Cedaredge coach Cutter Garrison said. “(Tayton) Nelson got the ball rolling for us right out of the gate there at 126 (pounds) with the fall and we took off from there. Grand Junction High School is a strong program and I know Tanner Ridgeway has some good things going on over there.”

Garrison said the two stand out performers over the course of the meet were Nelson and 120-pounder Ethan Hice, both of whom finished 5-0 with multiple pins.

For Delta, the season got off to a little bit of a late start thanks to the late-season football player additions.

Panthers coach Luis Meza said several wrestlers were still adjusting after only starting practice in the first week in December thanks to the football team’s trip to the state title game and Dawson Drozdik had a light schedule at the dual meet because of forfeits in his weight class. Still, the coach pointed to Matthew Valdez, Dylan Gordon, Kyle Kincade and Ripp Lockhart as strong performers during the meet.

“Football shape is different than wrestling shape,” Meza said. “They guys are strong and you love the physicality as a coach, but it’s a different kind of shape when you’re in a three-period match. Next weekend at our tournament will be a good test for a lot of these guys to see where they’re at. We have a mini-regional here with a lot of those teams we’ll see at the end of the season.”