{"id":13360,"date":"2026-02-22T10:51:50","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T17:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/aztec-high-wrestling-captures-22nd-state-team-championship\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:36:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:36:26","slug":"aztec-high-wrestling-captures-22nd-state-team-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/aztec-high-wrestling-captures-22nd-state-team-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Aztec High wrestling captures 22nd state team championship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=41893e73-fd24-5e41-a69d-ea2702dbfe8b&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" alt=\"Aztec\u2019s Aiden Trujillo celebrates his Class 4A 215 pounds state championship win over Albuquerque Academy's Tank (Isaiah) Rivera. by 9-3 decision Saturday at Rio Rancho Events Center. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Special to the Tri-City Record)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Aztec\u2019s Aiden Trujillo celebrates his Class 4A 215 pounds state championship win over Albuquerque Academy's Tank (Isaiah) Rivera. by 9-3 decision Saturday at Rio Rancho Events Center. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Special to the Tri-City Record)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Curtis Ray Benally<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>RIO RANCHO \u2013 The Aztec High School boys wrestling team turned the state championship tournament into a showcase last weekend at the Rio Rancho Events Center, crowning five individual champions and rolling to its second straight Class A-4A team title.<\/p>\n<p>As a team, the Tigers dominated their competition, winning by a score of 241-156 over Belen. West Las Vegas, St. Pius and Silver rounded out the top five teams in the 37-team tournament.<\/p>\n<p>For Aztec, the team victory is the 22nd in the history of the program, making the Tigers by far the most prized prep wrestling team in the state of New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, the Tigers earned the state team title despite just claiming one individual championship. This year, the team sent five to the top of the podium with five other wrestlers finishing in the top four in their respective weight classes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was really just small improvements from last year,\u201d said Aztec head coach Levi Stout. \u201cThey just united and decided to get each other\u2019s backs and really embraced the family atmosphere and they really bought in.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kARx_Wsa46E\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Leading the charge for Aztec were individual state champions senior Ethan Vigil (120 pounds), junior James Moore (126), senior Taner Olguin (132), junior Cory Douglas (165) and senior Aiden Trujillo (215).<\/p>\n<p>Trujillo, who finished his prep career with an emphatic 9-3 decision over Isaiah Rivera of Albuquerque Academy, was emotional about being a part of such a historic wrestling program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m so proud to call these guys my brothers,\u201d Trujillo said. \u201cKnowing I\u2019m a part of this legacy and what this team has done in the past and what they\u2019ll continue to do means so much to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"naviga-scoreboard\">\n<h4 class=\"scoreboard-title\">Class 1-4A Team Scores<\/h4>\n<p>1, Aztec 2412, Belen 1563, West Las Vegas 1534, St. Pius 149.55, Silver 1286, Miyamura 967, Bloomfield 928, Valencia 81.5<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Vigil provided the quickest highlight of the finals, needing only 31 seconds to pin St. Pius X\u2019s Dane Padilla to claim the 120-pound crown. Moore followed suit at 126, grinding out a 4-0 decision over Miyamura\u2019s Austin Lopez.<\/p>\n<p>Olguin kept the momentum rolling at 132, securing a 6-2 decision against Santiago Medrano of West Las Vegas, earning his second individual state title. Olguin began his prep wrestling career winning a state title as an eighth-grader in 2022 at 106 lbs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGetting that second state title has eluded him ever since his eighth-grade year and it\u2019s a long story for him but he\u2019s such a special and deserving champion,\u201d said Stout after the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>Douglas pinned Kirtland Central\u2019s Todd Robinson at the 2:32 mark to take the 165-pound title, capping off a remarkable season with a record of 44-5.<\/p>\n<div class=\"naviga-scoreboard\">\n<h4 class=\"scoreboard-title\">Aztec High Individual State Champions<\/h4>\n<p>120, Ethan Vigil pinned Dane Padilla (St. Pius), 0:31126, James Moore dec. Austin Lopez (Miyamura), 4-0132, Taner Olguin dec. Santiago Medrano (West Las Vegas), 6-2165, Cory Douglas pinned Todd Robinson (Kirtland Central), 2:32215, Aiden Trujillo dec. Tank Rivera (Academy), 9-3<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe pushed each other all season long in that room to make each other better,\u201d Douglas said after his win. \u201cI came into this match a little flat I thought and I didn\u2019t take the opportunity to win as soon as I saw it, but it means a lot to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"naviga-element naviga-subheadline1\">Podium Finishers<\/div>\n<p>While the five champions stole the spotlight, the Tigers\u2019 depth was on full display with several other wrestlers earning guaranteed places:<\/p>\n<p>Nathan Hare (106): Took second place after falling to Valencia\u2019s Dominik Suarez in the final.<\/p>\n<p>Baylon Black (144): Earned a hard-fought third-place finish with a 7-6 decision over Silver\u2019s Cruz Burrola.<\/p>\n<p>Delano Black (157): Secured third place by pinning Jule May of Chaparral in 1:51.<\/p>\n<p>Ian Vigil (138): Finished fourth after a 7-1 decision loss in the third-place match.<\/p>\n<p>CJ Saiz (113): Placed fourth overall.<\/p>\n<div class=\"naviga-element naviga-subheadline1\">Local Rivalries<\/div>\n<p>The tournament also featured strong showings from neighboring Bloomfield and Kirtland Central.<\/p>\n<p>Bloomfield\u2019s Kellan Ray captured the 150-pound state title with a dominant 19-3 technical fall over Zachary Katz of St. Pius X, earning Ray a second straight individual gold medal.<\/p>\n<p>Bloomfield\u2019s Bryce Lance (113) and Kirtland Central\u2019s Todd Robinson (165) and Chance Aspaas (175) all earned runner-up finishes.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=f7148562-91db-5293-84b9-e0bc01010c6e&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" alt=\"Bloomfield's Caylee Miller celebrates her 235 pounds state championship title and 100th match win after defeating Goddard's Vanessa Martinez by pinfall on Saturday, February 21, 2026 at Rio Rancho Events Center. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Special to the Tri-City Record)\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Bloomfield's Caylee Miller celebrates her 235 pounds state championship title and 100th match win after defeating Goddard's Vanessa Martinez by pinfall on Saturday, February 21, 2026 at Rio Rancho Events Center. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Special to the Tri-City Record)<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Curtis Ray Benally<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><div class=\"naviga-element naviga-subheadline1\">Miller captures back-to-back state championships<\/div>\n<p>The Bloomfield High School wrestling program has a new standard-bearer at the top of the podium.<\/p>\n<p>Sophomore Caylee Miller capped off a perfect season by pinning her way to the 235-pound title at the state wrestling championships. Miller defeated Goddard\u2019s Vanessa Martinez in the first-place match, securing the fall at the 2:29 mark.<\/p>\n<p>Miller\u2019s victory assured a top-10 finish for the Bobcat girls wrestling team, which finished eighth overall. Cleveland High took the overall state girls team title, ahead of Las Cruces, with Miyamura, Volcano Vista and Atrisco Heritage rounding out the top five in the 53-team event.<\/p>\n<p>The victory kept Miller\u2019s unblemished record intact, as she finished the year 25-0. Martinez, also a sophomore, ended her impressive campaign with a 26-4 record.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A total of five Tiger wrestlers brought home individual titles, Bloomfield\u2019s Caylee Miller captures back-to-back state titles in girls wrestling tourney <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[799,28,642,29,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-high-school-sports","tag-newsletter","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13360"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19436,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13360\/revisions\/19436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13360"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}