The Haxtun-Fleming Herald - What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope

History was made last weekend, as CHSAA officially crowned its first set of sanctioned champions in girls wrestling. Three young ladies from the area were slated to be part of the State meet, conducted last Thursday in Pueblo, but when the time rolled around, only two were able to hit the mats.

Crystalyn Felan, considered a strong challenger at 118 pounds, had to miss the championships with an undisclosed medical issue. That left it up to Stratton's Kaitlyn Louthan (111 pounds) and Mia Dischner (185 pounds) of Yuma to bring home hardware.

Louthan dropped her opening match by pinfall and then saw her tournament experience ended in an 8-6 sudden victory by her opponent in the first round of the consolation bracket. For Dischner, the meet began with a pinfall victory in 3:30. That was followed by a 3-0 loss in the semifinals. The junior was pinned in just 45 seconds in the consolation semifinal, but responded to take fifth place with a pin in 1:53 over the same opponent she defeated to begin the event.

All three area wrestlers are just juniors. They should each be top contenders next season.

Class 2A and 3A boys had their turn on the mats on Friday, and Lamar's Zane Rankin became the school's most decorated wrestler. The senior took home the 3A title at 145 pounds, becoming the first three-time champion in school history. Rankin, who has signed to compete for Chadron State next year, followed an opening round pin with 7-2 and 3-2 decisions to add the 145 pound title to consecutive crowns at 132 pounds.

Fort Morgan's Cael Langford was looking to bring home the title at 160 pounds in Class 3A, and he nearly did so. Langford, who took fifth two years ago at 138 pounds, and fourth at 145 last season, opened his final appearance at state with a pin of fellow Morgan County opponent, Cole Curtis (Brush) in 2:13. He punched his ticket to the finals with a 7-2 decision in the semifinals. He trailed Cameron Lucero of Pagosa Springs 6-2 entering the final period of the match. Lucero would hold on for a 9-6 decision, but Langford finished her career with a second place outing.

Wray was in the mix for the 2A team title, with four wrestlers competing for state titles. Senior Tyler Collins was the only one to grab the gold, earning the crown at 152 pounds. Collins pinned his first opponent in 5:34 and then added a 9-1 major decision in the semifinals. In the title match, Collins took control with two first period takedowns on his way to a 7-1 decision. Collins won the championship at the same weight class last year. He was third at 132 as a freshman, and runner-up at 138 two years ago.

Wiggins is celebrating an individual titlist, as sophomore Laith Ibrahim brought home the championship at 285 pounds, defeating Wray's Jose Molina 9-7 in a sudden victory. Ibrahim claimed a 13-3 major decision in the first match and then downed his semifinal opponent 9-3. Ibrahim trailed Molina 5-0 after one period, but rallied to force overtime with a takedown with just nine seconds left in the third. He rode that momentum to earn the victory with another takedown, just 35 seconds into the extra session.

Rye senior Michael Atencio was looking to make it three titles, in three different weight classes, in three years. After claiming championships at 113 pounds as a sophomore, and 120 last year, Atencio had a first round bye at 132 last Friday. He made short work of his semifinal opponent, advancing to the finals with a pin in 36 seconds. Atencio tied his match at 2 on a third period escape, but when he was called for stalling, that gave his foe a 3-2 victory.

His teammate at Rye, Remington Peterson, capped a perfect junior season with the title at 182 pounds. Peterson picked up pins in each of his first two matches, needing 2:12 in the first round, and just 28 seconds in the semifinals. He faced Merino senior Trent Elliott, who had pinned his first opponent in 5:06 and earned a 17-2 technical fall in the semifinals. The two went into the third period of the finals scoreless, and Peterson would pull out a 3-1 decision for the championship.

The 220 pound bracket saw a number of area wrestlers reach the podium. Wray's Harrison Wade made it to the finals, but had to settle for second when his opponent claimed a 6-4 sudden victory. JJ Horn from Fowler brought home third place when he pinned Burlington's Isaac Mantey in 2:21, giving Mantey a fourth place finish. And, Rocky Ford's Kevin Tillman used a 5-4 decision to lay claim to fifth in the class.

Fort Morgan sophomore Kourtney Smith helped Greeley West to a 12th place finish in the Class 4A Swimming and Diving championships last Thursday. Smith was fourth in the 200 free and sixth in the 100 back and was part of the fifth place 200 free relay and ninth place 400 free relay. The times in all four of those events established new program records for the Spartans.

The winter storm that hit over the weekend forced the postponement of the Class 3A event, moving in to Tuesday. Holyoke and La Junta were scheduled to compete. La Junta's Gracie Moreland went into the meet ranked fifth in the 100 back and ninth in the 100 free.

The weather also created a bit of havoc on the state basketball tournaments. CHSAA made the decision to move the Great 8 contests from last Saturday to this Monday because a number of teams would be crossing the mountains for their games. As the snow piled up in areas of the state, another call was made over the weekend, allowing teams to play those quarterfinal games on either Monday or Tuesday. That pushed the semifinals to Thursday, and championships will now be played on Saturday and Sunday.

After a lot of drama regarding their availability due to having played an opponent who later had a player test positive for COVID, the #1 seed in the Class 1A field, Briggsdale, was allowed to play in the Sweet 16, providing they tested negative for the virus before the contest. All 11 players and two coaches who were tested came back clean and the Falcons moved past Haxtun 57-28 in the contest.

Kit Carson, seeded second in the bracket, had drama of a different kind. The Wildcats needed a late rally to take a 38-36 lead over #15 Lone Star in their Sweet 16 contest last Thursday. Kit Carson would see Lone Star's final attempt at winning the game go amiss and the Wildcats survived to host Dove Creek in the quarterfinals.

Burlington's girls picked up the first postseason win for the program since 2009 when they defeated Center 67-51 last Tuesday in the Class 2A tournament. Their run would come to a close two nights later when #4 Rye flexed its muscle in a 72-43 Sweet 16 contest. Rye was scheduled to meet Santa Fe league rival Rocky Ford in the Great 8. Sydney Adamson had 27 points in the win over Burlington.

Yuma put on the Cinderella slipper last week, entering the field as the #22 seed. The Indians with just four wins when play opened on Tuesday, upset #11 Soroco 46-44 in the opening round and then showed #6 Paonia the door two nights later, 31-26. They had to make another trip west to face #3 Sanford in the quarterfinals. The Indians were one of three LPAA teams in the Great 8, along with #1 Holyoke and #8 Wray, who met in the quarterfinals.

Tenth-seeded Limon backed up a 77-47 win over #23 Gilpin County in the opening round, by upsetting #7 Heritage Christian 51-46 in overtime in the Sweet 16. Their reward was a trip to #2 Cedaredge in the Great 8.

Eighth-seed Brush had a first round bye in the Class 3A bracket and the Diggers made quick work of their opponent in Thursday's Sweet 16, blasting #24 Grand Valley 63-33. The win earned the Diggers a quarterfinal contest at #1 The Vanguard School, who had dumped #16 Lamar 47-26 in the same round. Lamar used a 37-26 win over Basalt in the opening round to get their second shot of the season at Vanguard, who entered the week unbeaten.

In the Class 1A boys bracket, seven of the top eight seeds made it to the quarterfinals, including #2 Merino, #4 Granada and #5 Cheraw. The lone outlier was #11 Haxtun, who upset #6 Primero 57-56 in the Sweet 16. The win earned the Fightin' Bulldogs a trip to #3 De Beque in the quarterfinals.

Cheraw took down #12 Sangre de Cristo 34-24 in the second round. That victory gave the Wolverines a shot at redemption against Granada, who earned the High Plains title with a 48-31 win over Cheraw during the regular season's final weekend. The Bobcats entered their quarterfinal contest without having played a game in the tournament, as they were rewarded a forfeit when Evangelical Christian was knocked out by a positive COVID case in its school.

Two teams outside of the top eight made the quarterfinals in the 2A boys event, with #10 Ignacio squaring off against #2 Limon in the round, and #12 Wiggins earning a shot at #4 Wiggins. Wiggins put an end to #5 Holly's tournament run in the second round. The Tigers, who beat Vail Christian 59-48 in the opening round, outscored Holly 19-13 in the fourth quarter to spring the 57-56 upset.

Yuma had to survive the upset bid of #13 Fowler, advancing with a 66-65 decision. It was the third straight year the two teams met in the state tournament, with Yuma winning all three. The total margin in those games was 16 points. The Indians and Tigers gave the LPAA half of the final eight teams in the field, as #1 Wray met #8 Sedgwick County in another quarterfinal match-up.

Sterling began the week as the only area team still alive in the 3A bracket. The Tigers used a 51-34 second round victory over Colorado Springs Christian to set up a home clash with #6 Aspen in the quarterfinals. Patriot League rival Brush suffered a heart-breaking 85-82 loss to Kent Denver in the opening round.