Competing at the Butch Melton Memorial on Jan. 31, three Dove Creek High School wrestlers made the podium, and one Bulldog was crowned champion. Head coach Shane Baughman said his team’s results could have been even better.
“Individually, we did pretty well, but (a few of our wrestlers) need to take things one match at a time and not count the chickens before they hatch,” said Shane Baughman.
Leading the way for the Bulldogs was 138-pound senior Chance Randolph, who pinned all five of his opponents in route to a first-place finish. Randolph defeated Ignacio’s Ethen Appenzellar in the finals.
“(Chance) dominated his way through the whole day and looked really good,” said Shane Baughman. “In the finals, he had a good lead and got the pin.”
Finishing second for the Bulldogs was 106-pound junior Collin Hobbs, who was defeated by Dolores High School sophomore Brandon Ward 14-9 in the finals.
“Colin kind of overlooked (Ward) a bit,” said Shane Baughman. “Ward had a good match and had some great moves. Hopefully Collin will get another chance at him at our league duals.”
Also finishing second for Dove Creek was 132-pound junior Case Baughman, who won his first four matches before losing a tight decision to Bayfield’s Ryan Naba.
“Case overlooked Naba, and hopefully he’ll learn from it,” said Baughman.
Rounding out the Bulldogs podium finishers was junior Ricky Adams, who finished sixth in the 160-pound division.
“I’m really proud of the way that (Ricky) has been wrestling,” said Shane Baughman. “He had never wrestled before in his life and he came out late. He’s already picked up eight wins and he’s getting the hang of it.”
Next up for Dove Creek will be the San Juan Basin League duals, which will take place in Mancos on Feb. 5. Dolores, Mancos, Ignacio, and Norwood/Nucla will join the Bulldogs at the competition.
“(The league duals) will be a different format than what we’ve done in the past,” said Shane Baughman. “We’ll dual every single team. We’re not looking to win much team-wise because we (forfeit) so many weights, but we’ve got individuals who should do well.”