Competing for the final time in 2014, the Dove Creek High School wrestling team won three of five duals at the Panther Classic in Farmington on Dec. 20. Individually, the Bulldogs won 28 of their 41 matches.
“We had five kids go undefeated on the day,” said Bulldogs coach Shane Baughman. “I was pretty tickled with that. They wrestled really well.”
Among Dove Creek’s undefeated wrestlers were 120-pound freshman Rhett Quackenbush and 126-pound freshman Derek Kibel. Kibel finished the tournament 5-0 and Quackenbush finished 4-0.
(Rhett) only weighs about 113-pounds, but he had a lot of success (in the 126-pound) division,” said Shane Baughman. “(Derek) dominated the whole day. It was nice to see our freshmen perform so well.”
Also finishing the tournament undefeated were 132-pound junior Case Baughman (5-0), and 138-pound senior Chance Randolph (4-0), who both qualified for the state tournament last season.
“(Case) had one kind of tough match and wrestled really well,” said Shane Baughman. “Chance was battling some sickness, but he fought through it and beat a kid who was third in the (New Mexico State Tournament) last year.”
Rounding out Dove Creek’s undefeated wrestlers was 113-pound Collin Hobbs, who won all five of his matches on the day.
“(Collin) wrestled really well,” said Baughman. “He started off his first match kind of slow, but the rest of the day he dominated.”
Other Dove Creek wrestlers competing in the tournament included 182-pound senior Tyler Knuckles (1-3), 160-pound junior Ricky Adams (1-3), 106-pound Ehen Bold (3-2), and 145-pound sophomore Rojelio Keedah (0-5).
With the first third of its season now complete, Dove Creek will take a week off for Christmas before returning to practice to prepare for the Tournament of Champions in Vernal, Utah, Jan. 9-10.
(The Tournament of Champions) is probably our toughest tournament of the year,” said Baughman. “It’s even tougher than our state tournament. There are nationally ranked wrestlers and nationally ranked teams. It will be a good test.”