With the Colorado state-wrestling tournament less than one month away, several members of the Montezuma-Cortez High School wrestling team are enjoying success.
Competing at the Sand Devil Classic in Page, Ariz., Jan. 23-24, five Panthers wrestlers finished in the top six overall.
“As a team, there are small things that we need to work on, but the kids are starting to push and fix those little mistakes,” said M-CHS wrestling coach Shad Bellmire. “I expect us to be peaking at (regionals) and state.”
Leading the Panthers was 182-pound senior Seager Oliver, who won all three of his matches and finished first overall. Oliver pinned Desert Hills High School’s Ethan Del Toro in the championship match.
“(Del Toro) had only two losses (on the season),” said Bellmire. “Seager is definitely in a zone. He’s pushing hard, and he’s looking toward the (state tournament).”
Also cracking the top three for the Panthers was 132-pound senior Levi Gross, who won four of his five matches and finished third. Gross pinned Flagstaff High School’s Wyatt Nez in the third-place match.
“Levi is starting to turn it on,” said Bellmire. “He’s creating some scrambles, and he’s going hard.”
At 138 pounds, sophomore Josh Ramos won four of six matches and finished fifth overall. Senior Justice Ramos finished fifth in the 152-pound division.
“(Josh) wrestled a lot of tough seniors and had some good matches,” said Bellmire. “(Justice) is dealing with some banged-up knees, but he’s going hard.”
Senior Andrew Finch rounded out the Panthers podium finishers with a sixth-place finish in the 160-pound division.
(Andrew) was losing some tight matches,” said Bellmire. “He’s in the ballgame, but we’re going to have to work on some small details if he wants to get to the top.”
Other M-CHS wrestlers competing in the tournament included Briggs Durbin, who won two of his four matches; and Victor Perez, who battled a shoulder injury and finished the tournament 2-2.
Next up for M-CHS will be a road dual against Norwood on Jan. 29, followed by the Southwest League Duals, which will take place in Durango on Feb. 7.
“We just need to continue to work on putting together six minutes of solid wrestling,” said Bellmire. “We can’t be taking even one second off.”