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Virginia Beach Duals 2021

1st photo by Kerri Hankin

By Tom Blair, ICW Staff

The 22^nd Annual NHSCA National Duals also known as the Virginal Beach Duals were held on May 28 – 31,2021 at the new Virginia Beach Sports Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The largest and most competitive duals in the country guarantees each team entered 6 matches in the first two days of competition. On the third day of competition the top 32 teams are realign / re-seeded into a 32-team double elimination championship bracket with teams getting at least two duals.

The tournament is broken down into 3 divisions – high school, middle school, and elementary. The tournament, day 1 format for each division is setup into 4-team round robin pools where teams wrestle three duals. Day 2 for each division is setup with the top two teams in each pool were now placed into a second round of 4-teams round robin pools in the champion side of the tournament and the bottom two teams in day 1 pools go into a 4-team round robin pools consolation side of the tournament.

Colorado HS Wrestling States 2021 – Recap 4A & 5A

By Tom Blair, ICW Staff

Day 3 of the Colorado HS State wrestling tournament started off with the 4A classification session / quarterfinals and then would alternate sessions with 5A classification thru the finals. This was because of the variance plan that CHSAA had to use in the wake of Covid19. The wrestlers and coaches would shift back and forth between the Southwest Motors Event Arena and an adjacent building where four practice mats were laid out for the teams.

Three weight classes would have a bye in their brackets at 152 lbs, 170 lbs and 285 lbs because of either injury or covid19. Taking a quick look at the brackets in 4A, there were nine state title winners that were undefeated in the season and 3 wrestlers that became 2X state champions. Only 1 freshman and 1 sophomore were able to earn state titles while 5 juniors and 7 seniors put their names in the record books at state champions.

Cheyenne Mtn would earn their first wrestling team title with 123.5 pts, while Pueblo County 102 pts in 2nd place and Pueblo East in 3rd place with 100 points.

Colorado States 2021 – Recap of 2A and 3A

By Tom Blair, ICW Staff

Memories of the 2021 state tournament may fade a little as times goes by, but with CHSAA hosting a smaller than usual Colorado High School State Wrestling tournament will always be a fact. Less than half the normal number of wrestlers were allowed a chance to fulfill their goal / dreams of a state title, as the state brackets were 8 man strong. Only 2 wrestlers advance from the 4-regional tournament in each classification, because of the variances place on CHSAA from the state government with Covid 19.

There was no fan fair, no cross-mat intro, no announcements of the final’s wrestler season or career record. It was just go out on the eight mats and wrestler. CHSAA has said it many times leading up to the state tournament, consider yourself lucky to have a tournament or season at all. The wrestlers and their coaches desired more and should be recognize for their efforts, their dedication, and their passion to keep going in the shorten season and the one-day tournament.

Analyzing the 2A weight classes, there are some things missed by the common fan or other media outlets. Team titles would go to Centauri (109 points) with runner-up Cedaredge (99 points), Wray would earn 3^rd place with 94 points.

NCAA D1 – Recap of Colorado Wrestlers

By Tom Blair, ICW

Colorado would have two high school grads earn All-American status at the NCAA D1 Wrestling Championship in St Louis, Missouri. Cohlton Schultz, Arizona State (Ponderosa) would earn 4^th place with a 5 – 2 record and Ryan Deakin, Northwestern (Legacy) would earn 3^rd place with a 5 – 1 record.

The two D1 teams of Air Force Academy and Northern Colorado did not fair as well as they have hoped with only winning 5 matches and losing 12 matches combined.

Air Force Academy – 41^st place

133 lbs - Jared Van Vleet went 2 – 2

174 lbs - Cody Surratt went 0 – 2

285 lbs - Wyatt Hendrickson went 3 – 2

Northern Colorado – 48^th place

133 lbs - Mosha Schwartz (Castle View HS) went 0 – 2

174 lbs - Jackson Hemauer went 1 – 2

184 lbs - Alan Clothier went 1 – 2

The wrestlers representing Colorado at the NCAA D1 Championship and were unable to place but gave it their all:

125 lbs Malik Heinselman, Ohio State (Castle View HS) went 1 – 2

125 lbs Fabian Gutierrez, University of Tennessee Chattanooga (Adams City HS) went 1 – 2

141 lbs Grant Willits, Oregon State (Pueblo County HS) went 2 – 2

149 lbs Josh Finesilver, Duke (Cherry Creek HS) went 3 – 2

149 lbs Andrew Alirez, Northern Colorado (Greeley Central) - withdrew

157 lbs Hunter Willits, Oregon State (Pueblo County HS) went 2 -2

184 lbs Tate Samuelson, Wyoming (Castle View HS) went 1 – 2

Recap on the 2021 Colorado Girls Wrestling State Championship

By Tom Blair, ICW

The day that coaches and wrestlers were waiting for since the beginning of the shorten girls high school season, which did not start on time (because of covid19 regulations) but started on January 18^th, 2021. The number of state qualifiers were cut in half (down to eight wrestlers per weight class) and the tournament was run in one day on the mats at the Southwest Motors Event Center in Pueblo.

The number of teams with wrestlers representing their school was 34 high schools and the total number of wrestlers were 80 girls. Breaking done the school grades – 16 freshman, 20 sophomore, 25 juniors and 18 seniors. Plus, one senior missing out on the state tournament – could have been weight, injury or covid19 test.

Th tournament was made up of several bad situations because of covid19 variances. No more than 2 fans per wrestlers were able to attend and they had to leave at the break time and then come back in after cleaning of the facility to watch. Spectators would have to stay home or in a hotel nearby to watch on a paid per streaming feed. The parade of champions was switch to a parade of medal wrestlers challenging for placement or what some would call a parade of teams (as only 2 wrestlers per weight class were not in the parade). The state tournament would only place six wrestlers at each weight class. The finals match for 1^st / 2^nd were on two mats going at the same time with no cross-mat introductions were announced. All these changes by CHSAA, was said be the best they could do with the variances. But it still felt like the girls were cheated on their first fully CHSAA sanctioned state wrestling championship. The girls deserve better – well there is next year.

Colorado Hs Boys “Wrestler of the Week” - Week 7 for 4A and 5A Classifications

By Tom Blair, ICW Staff

Week seven of the 2021 Colorado high school boy’s season was wrestled on eight mats at the Southern Motors Event Center in Pueblo at the State Championship on Saturday March 13^th, 2021 for the 4A and 5A classifications. With only eight wrestlers per weight class the competition was at an all-time high with ranked wrestlers going against ranked wrestler in the first rounds. These boys have poured their heart and soul into this shorten wrestling season and left everything on the mat so that they could finish their goal of becoming a state champion. The “Wrestler of the Week” for 4A and 5A will be listed below with one wrestler earning the award in each classification.

InsideCoWrestling and Cliff Keen Athletic are proud to sponsor this award for the regional weekend. Cliff Keen’s commitment to wrestling nation-wide has gone back over 60 years and their support as the sponsor of Colorado High School Boys “Wrestler of the Week “is greatly appreciated. Please check out their website for all your wrestling needs at www.cliffkeen.com

This week, nominees were sent to our committee members and voted upon by their record / results for the weekend with consideration for the competition that they have wrestled. The task to narrow it down to one choice is not an easy decision to make and it is one that is not taken lightly by the committee members.

The nominees for week 7 (which consisted of the Boys State Championship) “Wrestler of the Week” for 4A were:

Colorado Hs Boys “Wrestler of the Week” - Week 7 for 2A and 3A Classifications

By Tom Blair, ICW Staff

Week seven of the 2021 Colorado high school boy’s season was wrestled on eight mats at the Southern Motors Event Center in Pueblo at the State Championship on Friday March 12^th, 2021 for the 2A and 3A classifications. With only eight wrestlers per weight class the competition was at an all-time high with ranked wrestlers going against ranked wrestler in the first rounds. These boys have poured their heart and soul into this shorten wrestling season and left everything on the mat so that they could finish their goal of becoming a state champion. The “Wrestler of the Week” for 2A and 3A will be listed below with one wrestler earning the award in each classification.

D2 Wrestling Nationals - Colorado Results

By Tom Blair, ICW Staff

The NCAA D2 National Wrestling Championship were held this past weekend in St Louis, Missouri. The four D2 colleges of Colorado Mesa, Adams State, Western State and Colorado School of Mines sent qualifiers. Colorado was represented by a total of eight wrestlers in this tournament.

St Cloud St was the team champion with 107 points and placing 7 out of the 8 wrestlers that were qualified while 2^nd place UNK – Kearney scored 105.5 (10 qualifiers and 9 All-Americans / placers) was over 30 points in front of the third-place team of Lindenwood. The Colorado colleges placement - 8^th Colorado Mesa with 31 pts, 14^th Colorado School of Mines 23 pts, 22^nd Adams State 12.5 pts and 24^th Western State 12 pts.

Weld Central Asher Morelock - A Vision Impaired / blind wrestler take big steps in his high school career

photos are of Asher Morelock in black shirt and Coach Cody Munna in green shorts.

By Tom Blair, ICW Staff

When you are a rookie wrestler you are expected to take your lumps and losses. But when you come out for high school wrestling as a freshman and with no sports experience, can it be any harder. Asher Morelock is a freshman at Weld Central HS and is wrestling at 145 pounds on the varsity squad this season.

This young wrestler is vision impaired / blind since birth with a genetic disorder (LCA). His younger brother Bryce is also vision impaired and is looking to start up wrestling in middle school this season. Asher came home in the fall and talked to his parents about going out for wrestling for the first time. “He has aways been interested in sports, just not as a participant.” His dad Michael Morelock stated. So, this is all new ground to us.

Week Five - Colorado HS Boys Wrestling Ranking 4A & 5A

ON THE MAT RANKING - 2021 Week 5 - BOYS - March 4, 2021

Tim Yount 1310 Meadowlake Way Monument, CO 80132 Cell: 719-351-2985 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Class 4A

106lbs

Zion Mares, Pueblo County
LJ Herburger, Pueblo East
Mickail Skeldum, Mesa Ridge
Read more: Week Five - Colorado HS Boys Wrestling Ranking 4A & 5A