The Montezuma-Cortez High School wrestling team has battled its share of adversity this season, but on Saturday, six Panthers competed at the Class 3A Western Region Tournament in Montrose on Feb. 14, and all six made the podium.
Four M-CHS wrestlers qualified for next week’s state, and the team placed sixth in the 14-team tournament. Delta High School finished first overall.
The team wrestled tough and showed no quit,” said Panthers head coach Shad Bellmire. “Unfortunately, we had only six wrestlers. Levi Gross was out with a concussion, and Victor Perez had a shoulder injury.”
Among the Panthers state qualifiers was 182-pound senior Seager Oliver, who pinned his first two opponents before defeating Eagle Valley’s Devin Brown 12-5 in the regional finals.
Oliver’s record now stands at 34-3 on the season. The defending Class 4A 170-pound state champion is ranked No. 1 in Class 3A’s 182-pound division this year.
“Seager has no quit, and he pulled another (regional championship) off,” said Bellmire. “Devin Ward is a tough kid, and Seager handled him well. Seager has the right mindset, and he’s peaking at the right time.”
Also earning a trip to the state tournament was M-CHS’s 160-pound senior Andrew Finch, who won three of his four matches and placed third overall. A transfer student, Finch qualified for the Texas state tournament last year.
“Andrew wrestled tough,” Bellmire said. “He had some calls go against him in the semifinals, but he came back strong.”
In the 138-pound bracket, M-CHS sophomore Josh Ramos earned his first trip to the state tournament with a second-place finish. Ramos won his opening three matches before losing a 13-0 decision to Olathe’s Trent Rose in the finals.
“I knew Josh could get there,” said Bellmire. “He wrestled some down-to-the-wire matches and never threw in the towel. It’s going to be exciting for him to get a taste of state.”
Rounding out M-CHS’s state qualifiers was 152-pound senior Justice Ramos, who qualified for the state tournament last year. Fighting through a knee injury, Ramos finished fourth overall.
“Justice has had to deal with pain, but he’s like a horse that will run till it dies,” said Bellmire. “It’s his senior year, and he’s not going to give it up.”
Other Panthers wrestlers who attended regionals included 106-pound junior Colton Reynolds, who finished fifth overall and 145-pound sophomore Briggs Durbin, who finished sixth overall.
Next up for M-CHS will be the Class 3A State Tournament, which will take place at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Feb. 19-21. Stories, photographs and videos of the state tournament can be found on the Cortez Journal’s Facebook page and at www.cortezjournal.com. Live updates will also be provided on twitter @imac_34.
“I’m looking forward to state,” said Bellmire. “Hopefully we can go up there and bring home some hardware.”