AAU/CUSAW

Senior World Championships

By Tom Blair, ICW

Day 1

Results saw three members of Team USA in the championship finals in their bracket. While Team USA leads in the team race with 60 points, the lead which is 30 points over Russia, Georgia and Iran. In the finals for Team USA are Daton Fix at 61 kg faces off against Abasgadzhi Magomedov of the Russian Wrestling Federation, Kyle Dake, at 74 kg will square off against Tajmuraz Salkazanov of Slovakia and David Taylor finals match is against Hassan Yazdani Charati of Iran. At 125 kg Nick Gwiazdowski win his first match over Amarveer Dhesi (Canada) by a 8-3 decision, then loss to Amir Hossein Abbas Zare (Iran), 10-0, 1:49. Nick was pulled back into Repechage and will wrestle against Dzianis Khramiankou (Belarus).

Legends of Colorado Wrestling - Jon Penfold

Legends of Colorado Wrestling is an interview series with personalities from around Colorado that stand out when you talk about the sport. When you talk about Wiggins High School wrestling the one name that is the common thread is Jon Penfold, former coach of Wiggins HS. His long time involvement (over 30 years) with the school as a wrestling coach and a teacher talks volume about his character and love for the sport.

Colorado is represented at Senior World Wrestling Championships with 5 wrestlers

By Tom Blair, ICW Staff

The 30 member USA Wrestling Senior Team is traveling to Oslo, Norway for the World Senior Championship which are being held October 2 – 10, 2021. Wrestlers in the three divisions – Men’s Freestyle, Men’s Greco-Roman and Women’s Freestyle have 10 members each on this experienced and talented team. The USA Wrestling squads are ready to do battle on the mats against the world’s best. The World Championship is a little different then the resent Olympics as it has 10 weight classes in each division compared to the six in each division at the Olympics. The competition will be held at Jordal Amfi in Oslo, Norway. The event starts with men’s freestyle competition October 2-5, women’s freestyle action October 4-7 and Greco-Roman wrestling October 7-10.

Colorado will be well represented in that it has 2 members on the women’s team and 2 members on the Greco-Roman team. Plus, a wrestler in the freestyle division on the Israel national team.

Colorado native wrestlers finish strong at World Team Trials

photo by The Open Mat

By Tom Blair, ICW staff

World Team Trials are being held this weekend Sept 11 & 12, 2021 in Lincoln, Nebraska. The wrestlers in the three senior division are all attempting to gain the top spot and a trip to the World Senior Championship being held in Oslo, Norway on October 2 – 10, 2021. The semifinals matchup has two wrestlers in each division representing Colorado as Tyler Graff (Loveland HS grad and 4x state champion) is at 61 kg in the freestyle division along with Ryan Deakin (Legacy grad and state champion) at 70 kg. In the Women Freestyle division there is a pair of talented ladies, Marissa Gallegos (Jefferson HS , 1x State champion) at 55kg and Maya Nelson (Denver HS, World Junior Champion) at 59 kg. In the semifinal pairing in Greco -Roman are G’Aneglo (Tracy) Hancock (Fountain-Ft Carson grad and 2x state placer) wrestling at 97 kg and Cohlton Schultz (Ponderosa grad and 4x state champion) at 130 kg.

With the semifinals in the books for all three divisions in the World Team Trials Challenge tournament. Four Colorado wrestlers earned their way into the best 2 out of 3 finals match.

Colorado Crowns three native wrestlers at Senior Nationals

By Tom Blair, ICW Staff

Colorado has a native wrestling champion in each of the three divisions at the 2020 Senior National championship that were wrestled this past weekend in Coralville, Iowa. To start the weekend out with a title at 130 kg was #1 seed Cohlton Schultz (Ponderosa grad attending Arizona State) wrestling for the Sunkist Kids, he went 4 – 0 in the tournament. Schultz claimed his second Senior Nationals title at just 20-years-old. The second title would go to Adeline Gray, who would take the title at 76 kg in the women’s frestyle division with a 3 – 0 record.

The third title would be 9^th seed Andrew Alirez (Greeley Central grad attending Northern Colorado) going 6 – 0 in the men’s 65kg freestyle division, Alirez would also earn the Outstanding Wrestler for the efforts in the tournament. Alirez defeated Saenz, Heil, No. 8 McKee, No. 1 McKenna, No. 12 Thomas, and No. 3 Henderson to bring home the gold.

Colorado was well represented in the Senior Nationals with eight wrestlers mixed into the three divisions. In the Women’s division Colorado would have three wrestlers at 76kg Tristian Kelly (Betterman Elite), going 2 – 2 and placing fourth; Geneva Gray (New York Athletic Club) would earn 7^th place with a 1 – 2 record. While Adeline Gray dominated the field with her first-place finish.

Katherine Shai (Northern Colorado Wrestling Club in Greeley) made it to the finals on Saturday and captured the title in the 53kg Women’s Freestyle bracket. Shai was the No. 1 seed and looked dominant throughout the tournament, picking up one pin and two technical falls.

Mosha Schwartz (Ponderosa grad attending Northern Colorado) wrestling for Northern Colorado Wrestling Club, started off the weekend on Friday with a runner-up finish in Men’s Greco-Roman at 60kg. As the No. 7 seed, Schwartz defeated No. 11 Raimo, No. 2 Miranda, and No. 6 Koontz on his run to the tournament finals.

Ryan Deakin (Legacy grad attending Northwestern) would earn a 5^th place finish by defeating David Carr (Iowa State) by a score of 5 – 2 and avenge his lost in the quarters to Carr. Deakin would finish the tournament with a 6 – 2 record.

Men’s Greco-Roman finals results

60 kg
1st - Alex Thomsen (Nebraska WTC) df. Mosha Schwartz (unattached), 5-3

Round 1 (32) – bye, round of 16 – win 8 – 0, quarters – win 8 – 7, semi – win 5 – 3;

130 kg
1st - Cohlton Schultz (Sunkist kids) df. West Cathcart (NYAC), 4-2

Round 1 (16) – win 10 – 1, quarters – win 5 – 0, semi – win 4 – 3;

Women’s freestyle finals results

53 kg
1st - Katherine Shai (Titan Mercury WC) df. Ronna Heaton (Sunkist Kids), 10-0

Quarters – win 10 – 0, semi – win 4 -0;

76 kg
1st - Adeline Gray (New York Athletic Club) tech. fall Victoria Francis (Titan Mercury WC), 10-0, 3:00

Quarters – win 4 – 0, semi – win 10 – 0;

3rd - Dymond Guilford (Titan Mercury WC) dec. Tristan Kelly (Betterman Elite), 12-3

7th - Geneva Gray (New York Athletic Club) tech. fall Samantha Springer (Unattached - MA), 12-2 1:47

Men’s Freestyle Finals results

65 kg
1st - Andrew Alirez (unattached) df. Evan Henderson (TMWC), 5-0

Round of 64 – win 10 – 0, round of 32 - win 10 – 0, round of 16 – win 11 – 5, quarters – win 6 – 4, semi – win 7 – 1;

74 kg

5th - Ryan Deakin (TMWC/Wildcat Wrestling Club) dec. David Carr (C-RTC), 5-2

Team Vision Quest takes on competition at RMN

By Tom Blair, ICW

Team Vision Quest traveled the nine hour drive to Kansas City, Missouri to take on competitors in both duals and individual matches in the high school division. The squad would compete in the 19-team dual tournament on Friday August 21^st with three team round robin pool rounds. Pool C rounds saw TVQ beat a team from Texas – Ohana Wrestling Academy 73 - 31. In the 2nd round the dual meet was rally close with a 36-34 win for TVQ over Pounders from California. The two wins would place TVQ in the gold bracket with the other top teams from the other 5 pools and the next top 2 teams in the eight team bracket.

Round 1 in the placement bracket would see TVQ take a 54 – 12 loss to MN Allstar and put them in the consi side of the bracket. The next round / consi semifinals was a better dual but TVQ still came up short with a 39 – 24 loss to Team Kansas. With that loss the team would slide into the 7^th / 8^th place dual against MN Mashers. The TVQ team was hoping to finish with a win , but it was not in the cards as they loss 52 – 18. Finishing the dual tournament with a 2 – 3 record. The individual record for the wresters is as follows:

98 – James Pantoja 2 – 0, 106 – Nico Gonzales 4- 1, 113 Logan Navara 3 – 2, 120 Travis Long 0- 5, 125 Dimitri Garza Alarcon 3 – 2, 132 Nick Grizales 2 – 3, 138 Mason Vigil 0 – 5, 145 Blaze Brophy 1 – 4, 152 Grant Kunkel 1 – 4, 160 – Kai 0 – 5, 170 Josiah Aldinger 3 – 2, 182 Cael Jordon 2 – 3, 195 Morgan Tribbetts 2 – 3, 220 Gavin Howes 1 – 4 and 285 Tanner True 5 – 0.

The next day Saturday August 22 the team would take to the mats in early afternoon in the individual tournament, team member were all spread out on the two levels at the Hyvee Arena. When the dust settled and the whistles stop sounding TVQ would have two wrestlers taking home the hardware. In the 15U 130 lb weight class Dimitri Garza Alarcon would take the title with a 4 – 0 record. Dimitri would have his toughest match in the semifinals against Ashton Keller (LOG) which he win with an escape in the second period and then rode Keller out in the third period to take a 1 – 0 win. Tanner True at 285 was the other placer with a 3^rd place title with a 3 – 1 record.

Individual records:

98 (15U) – James Pantoja 3 - 2, 106 – Nico Gonzales 2 - 2, 113 Logan Navara 1 – 2, 120 (15U) Travis Long 3 - 2, 125 Dimitri Garza Alarcon 4 - 0, 132 Nick Grizales 1 - 2, 138 Mason Vigil 0 – 2, 145 Blaze Brophy 2 - 2, 152 Grant Kunkel 2 – 2, 160 – Kai 1 - 2, 170 Josiah Aldinger 1 – 2, 182 Cael Jordon 3 - 2, 195 Morgan Tribbetts 1 – 2, 220 Gavin Howes 1 – 4 and 285 Tanner True 3 - 1.