Even against the top 182-pound grapples in the state, Seager Oliver stands out.
Competing at the Southwest League Duals in Durango on Feb. 7, the Montezuma-Cortez High School senior won all five of his matches on the day.
Included among Oliver’s victories was a 15-0 technical fall victory over Durango High School senior Patrick Cunion, who entered the tournament as the top-ranked 182-pounder in Class 4A. Oliver also defeated Fruita Monument’s Ty Taylor, who entered the weekend as the second-ranked 182-pounder in Class 5A.
“Seager is on a mission, and he is hungry,” said M-CHS wrestling coach Shad Bellmire. “To hold a high-quality wrestler like (Cunion) scoreless was impressive.”
As a team, M-CHS lost duals to Fruita Monument, Grand Junction, Grand Junction Central, Durango and Montrose and finished sixth overall. The Panthers were the only Class 3A team that competed at the duals.
“We started out of the gate slow,” said Bellmire. “Grand Junction put a whipping on us. After that, we woke up and started realizing that we needed to step up. Towards the later part of our last dual against Fruita, we wrestled a lot better.”
Next up for M-CHS will be the Class 3A Western Region Tournament, which will take place in Montrose on Feb. 14. Fourteen teams will compete in the tournament and the top-four wrestlers in each weight division will qualify for state.
“Hopefully, we can get half-a-dozen guys to the state tournament,” said Bellmire. “Our region is tough this year. We’re going to have to step it up.”
