THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Central High School Athletics

With less than two weeks to go before regionals, high school wrestling is starting to get interesting. Most wrestlers have settled into their weight classes and the On the Mat rankings for Week 9 are beginning to show who are the legitimate state title and podium contenders. Now that wrestlers have battled through tournament and duals, the true contenders are being revealed. Of course, there still could be some late switches in weight classes and injuries are always a factor this late in the season, and those could still impact the rankings headed into regionals and state. Grand Junction is now No. 3 in the Class 5A rankings and Central is No. 5 in the 4A rankings. In 2A, Paonia is third behind No. 1 Wray and No. 2 Rocky Ford. Cedaredge is No. 4 and Hotchkiss ninth. In total, there are 56 wrestlers from the area in the four classifications who are ranked in the top 10. Twenty-seven of those are ranked in the top 5. There are eight ranked in the top 2 of their weight classes and six ranked at No. 1. Grand Junction has four wrestlers ranked in the top 2 led by undefeated Hunter Tobiasson, who is No. 1 at 220 and has been at the top all season. Kieran Thompson is No. 2 at 113, Dawson Collins is No. 2 at 120 and JT Skalecki is second at 170. Both Collins and Skalecki have lost to the No. 1-ranked wrestler in their weight classes. Caid Lopez has moved up to No. 7 at 182 and Andrew Leyba is now No. 8 at 106. Fruita Monument is led by senior Keegan Bailey, who is No. 2 at 195. He finished third last year at state at 195 and the No. 1-ranked 195-pounder, Alec Hargreaves of Rocky Mountain, finished second. Casey Hudson remains at No. 5 at heavyweight for the Wildcats. Jeremiah Williams in No. 9 at 152, and two Fruita wrestlers are ranked No. 10, Trea Fantin (113) and Delson Pyland (182). Bailey won the title at 195 at the Thornton Invitational over the weekend. In Class 4A, Palisade's Ricardo Valenzuela has wrestled well since making the switch to 220 from heavyweight, and is now ranked No. 6 at 220. Central has nine wrestlers ranked in the top 10 in their respective weight classes at 4A. Dre Martinez (132) and Connor Shenk (220) are at No. 3. Martinez is battling a knee injury but expects to be back in time for regionals. Luke Pleasant is No. 5 at 113 and Tiga Lundin has moved up to No. 6 at 145 Davian Sandoval, coming off a big win at the Thornton Invitational, is at No. 7 at 106, as is Jagger Wade, also a winner in Thornton, at 126. Shaun Stepisnik (182) is No. 6, Tanner Hickey (170) No. 8 and Paul Salazar (152) is No. 9. Hickey also won a title at Thornton.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Central High School Athletics

GJ, CENTRAL, PAONIA WRESTLING RANKED IN TOP FIVE

SENTINEL STAFF

Daily Sentinel | 2/4/2019

PHOTO CREDIT: Christopher Tomlinson