Brandon Ward of Dolores, Case Baughman from Dove Creek, Richard Martinez and Andrew Morgan from Mancos and Montezuma-Cortez’ Matthew Broughton, Josh Ramos and Victor Perez all left for the Colorado wrestling state championships in Denver on Wednesday.
The opening matches for both Class 2A and 3A start on Thursday, with the championship rounds finishing up on Saturday.
Below is a breakdown of each competitor by class and weight. The top four wrestlers are seeded on the bracket, with the rest of the bracket filled in, and other references to rankings are from OnTheMat’s final standings from Feb. 11.
CLASS 2A
113 lbs. – Brandon Ward (36-6)
After finishing third place at 106 pounds last year, Dolores junior Brandon Ward is back in Denver, this time at 113 pounds.
Ward is the No. 2 seed on the bracket and he opens on Thursday against Mountain Valley’s unranked freshman Isiah Wellman.
Wellman shows a 5-4 record on the bracket, but that’s just at 113-pounds. He wrestled most of the season at 120 pounds, where he was 16-14.
Experience may be a factor, with Wellman just a freshman, and Ward, a junior, making a return trip to the Pepsi Center.
The two share a common opponent in Brett Fuller, a 27-16 senior from Del Norte. Ward has defeated Fuller twice, both times by fall, while Wellman lost to Fuller by fall in their region’s third place match.
Ward has also defeated two other wrestlers on the bracket, taking down Garrett Beck (Paonia) in a 12-9 decision, and Alex McCracken (Cedaredge) by fall in the regional tournament.
Of Ward’s six losses on the season, three came by opponents from other states or classes and three came at the hands of Ignacio’s Stocker Robbins.
Robbins was OnTheMat’s No. 3 ranked wrestler in the class before going down with a knee injury, leaving just two wrestlers on the bracket – Tanner Watson (No. 1) of Akron and Joe Chavez (No. 2) of Centauri – ranked higher than Ward according to OnTheMat.
However, Chavez fell to the No. 3 seed on the bracket, while Watson is the top seed, and Ward is snuggled between them at No. 2.
Watson and Ward are on opposite sides of the bracket, and while Chavez is on the bottom half with Ward, the only time they would face on the winning side would be to determine which goes on to the championship match.
Ward is hungry for a medal, and head coach Dane Gallaher said that last year’s third-place finish has Ward motivated to place even higher this year.
120 lbs. – Richard Martinez (14-4)
Shhhh...Richard Martinez is attempting to sneak onto the podium this weekend.
Martinez has only wrestled 18 times this year due to eligibility issues after transferring to Mancos from Dolores.
But head coach Grant Hobbs doesn’t look at it as a negative. In fact, it may be a good thing.
Having sat out for much of the year, Martinez is flying somewhat under the radar. And Hobbs is fine with him being the underdog.
The Mancos junior finished as OnTheMat’s No. 9 ranked wrestler, and he opens on Thursday against OnTheMat’s No. 20 wrestler Justin Traxler (27-18) of Akron. The two do not share any common opponents, but like Ward vs. Wellman, experience may come into play. Traxler is a freshman, while Martinez is making his second appearance at the state tournament.
Two of Martinez’ losses on the season came to other state qualifiers – Johnathan Andreatta (John Mall) and Sheridan Harvey (Meeker) – but he has defeated one other qualifier – Devlyn Mosman (Hayden) – by fall in the regional quarterfinals.
This weight class is loaded.
For example, OnTheMat’s No. 1 ranked wrestler Andreatta (34-2) – who was 41-1 as a freshman and won the 106-pound championship and finished last year as the 113-pound champ with a 40-1 record – wasn’t even one of the top four seeds on the bracket.
But perhaps Martinez can fly under the radar long enough to creep up and steal some hardware.
132 lbs. – Case Baughman (38-6)
Dove Creek senior Case Baughman has a bull’s-eye on his back and he doesn’t even know it.
Baughman is the No. 1 seed on the bracket, but as late as Wednesday evening, head coach Shane Baughman said that he didn’t think Case had even looked at the bracket.
Baughman doesn’t care about the numbers next to his name or anyone else’s. He’s in Denver with one goal: Bring home gold.
Prior to his fourth and final trip to the state tournament, Baughman trained with Zac Musselman from Monticello High School.
Musselman won the Utah Class 1A 132-pound championship last week, and Baughman will attempt to do the same in Colorado’s Class 2A tournament this weekend.
No. 3 seeded Keith Graham (Sedgwick County/Fleming) is responsible for one of the losses on Baughman’s record, defeating him in a 5-4 decision at the Screaming Eagle Tournament in Paonia earlier this season.
But no other wrestler on the bracket has taken down last year’s third place finisher. Of the rest of the field, Baughman has defeated three other qualifiers.
He pinned Colton Deluzio (Hotchkiss) at the Screaming Eagle, pinned Lane Martindale (Soroco) both times they met this season, including in the regional semifinals, and he’s taken down Tyler Beebe (Ignacio) four different times.
Baughman will start out on Thursday against OnTheMat’s No. 11 ranked wrestler Wesley Camper (Rye). Camper, also a senior, is 27-15 on the season, and the pair do not share any common opponents.
Interestingly, OnTheMat’s No. 1 ranked wrestler Jeremy Fraser (34-7) of Rocky Ford, neighbors Baughman on the bracket.
If both win their opening matches, it would make for an incredible match in the early goings.
152 lbs. – Drew Morgan (19-5)
Mancos senior Drew Morgan is aiming to go out with a bang, and hopefully, a medal.
Morgan opens on Thursday against Luke Haefeli (31-11) of Del Norte. The two do not have any common opponents from the regular season, and neither were seeded in the bracket’s top four, but they finished close in OnTheMat’s final rankings, with Haefeli at No. 9 and Morgan at 12.
Morgan has faced two other wrestlers on the bracket: Hayden Harris of Norwood/Nucla and Nych Deleon of Rangely.
Harris, who earned the No. 1 seed, beat Morgan by fall earlier this month, but Morgan split matches with Deleon. Morgan fell in their first contest, but won by a 13-12 decision in their second meeting in the third place match of the regional tournament.
Similar to Martinez, Morgan also missed time this season. He was out for most of January after suffering a concussion, but he’s returned in great form.
Hobbs also believes Morgan’s time off can be beneficial, saying that his body is fresher than wrestlers that have been going non-stop all season.
While he may too be a bit under the radar, a fully-healthy Morgan should put fear in opponents.
CLASS 3A
120 lbs. – Matthew Broughton (25-14)
M-CHS head coach Shad Bellmire is high on Broughton. And why wouldn’t he be?
The 120-pounder went 4-0 in the regional tournament and qualified for state as a freshman.
Broughton earned himself the No. 4 seed on the bracket and will open against OnTheMat’s No. 7 ranked wrestler, Oswaldo Nunez (18-9) of Brush. Nunez is also a freshman, and the two share a common opponent in Jody Sandoval II (Fort Lupton).
Sandoval, last year’s 113-pound champion, is the No. 1 seed. He previously took down Broughton by tech fall (17-1), and he pinned Nunez.
Broughton has wins over three other qualifiers. He’s beaten Clay Yarnell (Olathe) twice, once in a 9-3 decision and the other by fall, and he defeated Justin Salazar (Sheridan) 11-5 in the regional semifinals before taking down Carlos Esparza (Rifle) 4-2 in the regional championship match.
Broughton will likely see tougher competition at state than he’s seen all year, but Bellmire called him, “a force to be reckoned with.”
138 lbs. – Josh Ramos (30-13)
Ramos was leading against Bayfield senior Taylor Winch in their regional match before Winch made a move and pinned him.
And Bellmire said the match has Ramos thirsty for revenge.
He may or may not get the chance to take on Winch again, as they’re on opposite sides of the bracket, but he can still use the loss as motivation.
The only other state qualifiers Ramos has previously met are Shaun Staats (Delta) and Raul Lopez (Eagle Valley).
Staats narrowly defeated Ramos in a 7-6 decision, and Lopez has beaten him twice, first in a 6-4 decision and then 4-3 in a tie breaker decision for third place in the regional tournament.
Ramos got a tough draw, as he opens against the No. 1 seeded Aaron Trujillo (Valley) on Thursday.
Then again, it’s the state tournament, everyone starts 0-0 and anything can happen.
285 lbs. – Victor Perez (28-12)
Perez and Ramos are in similar situations.
Perez kicks off his state championship quest in a tough spot, against the No. 3 seeded Lucas Montgomery (Lamar).
But like Ramos, Bellmire said Perez is peaking at the perfect time.
Bellmire said that in his regional semifinal match against Felix Pena (Olathe), Perez had him pinned twice but just couldn’t finish it, and Pena came back to win by fall.
Pena is 31-6 on the season and is the No. 2 seed, so if Perez can compete with him, he can hang with anyone.
Perez fell to Pena twice this season, and has wrestled three other qualifiers.
He fell to Preston Duran (Alamosa) and Samuel Westbrook (Bayfield) by fall in the regular season – and lost to Westbrook in a 3-1 decision for the third place match at the regional – and he defeated Devon Garcia (Fort Lupton) by fall.
The 6-foot-4 senior may have a tough draw, but Bellmire is certain he’ll leave everything on the mat once the tournament starts.