{"id":13714,"date":"2026-02-01T21:02:57","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T04:02:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-wrestling-finishes-runner-up-as-host-of-four-corners-throwdown\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:40:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:40:05","slug":"montezuma-cortez-wrestling-finishes-runner-up-as-host-of-four-corners-throwdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-wrestling-finishes-runner-up-as-host-of-four-corners-throwdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma-Cortez wrestling finishes runner-up as host of Four Corners Throwdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"M-CHS
M-CHS wrestler Teagun Samora competes in the Four Corners Throwdown at M-CHS on Saturday afternoon. Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

CORTEZ \u2013 For Montezuma\u2011Cortez wrestling head coach Ryan Daves, the final week of January checked a number of boxes.<\/p>\n

With regionals approaching in two weeks, the Panthers aimed to make the most of their last chances to sharpen skills, build momentum and improve regional seedings. Saturday\u2019s Four Corners Throwdown inside The Jungle at M\u2011CHS also offered fans an opportunity to see the region\u2019s strong wrestling talent.<\/p>\n

The Panthers earned three top finishes and collected 105 points to place second behind Bayfield\u2019s 106.5.<\/p>\n

\"M-CHS
M-CHS wrestler Bodie Stiegelmeyer competes in the Four Corners Throwdown at M-CHS on Saturday afternoon. Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

For the second time in three days, Montezuma\u2011Cortez wrestled at home after a Thursday dual against Pagosa Springs, an event that also included matches from the Southwest Hammers youth club.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe program continues to be looking up, we\u2019ve got a lot of middle schoolers and peewee wrestlers that are coming up,\u201d Daves said. He added that the development pipeline keeps him optimistic about both the current roster and what\u2019s coming next.<\/p>\n

Two of the Panthers\u2019 three returning state qualifiers won their weight classes. Senior Bodie Stiegelmeyer went 5\u20110 to move to 21\u20116 at 113 pounds. Classmate Rusty Snyder, at 150 pounds, defeated four opponents to come within two wins of 40 this season and earned his second straight tournament title.<\/p>\n

Junior Teagun Samora, pursuing his first state berth, picked up his 30th win of the year during a 3\u20110 day to reach 31\u201113 at 120 pounds. Daves said Samora continues to gain confidence after a competitive effort last week against defending state champion Cash Martinez of Cedaredge.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though Teagun lost that match (Tech fall at 5:52), both Teagun and I felt that he wrestled really well,\u201d Daves said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ja\u2019Kobe Begay placed second at 215 pounds, and Orion Martineau matched that finish at 157 pounds. Keaton Curleyhair, a 2025 state qualifier, finished third after a .500 day. Nicholas Martinez (106 pounds), Cash Rogers (138 pounds) and Zebulun LeBlanc (175 pounds) each added a win.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got some really tough kids,\u201d Daves said, noting that both the boys and girls programs include multiple state hopefuls. \u201cThe younger kids are really starting to pick things up, too, learning the grit of a six\u2011minute match and learning the mental side of the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Low numbers led to the cancellation of the girls division at the Throwdown, but Daves said the switch didn\u2019t diminish the team\u2019s confidence entering the postseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited for regionals \u2013 you never know what can happen \u2013 but we feel like we\u2019re looking good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montezuma\u2011Cortez will host one more dual against Centauri before the boys travel to Delta for the 3A regional tournament. The girls compete in the 4A regional at North Fork the weekend of Feb. 13-14.<\/p>\n

\"DHS
DHS wrestler Kale Gates competes in the Four Corners Throwdown at M-CHS on Saturday afternoon. Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Bears take third in Throwdown, get set for SJBL and regionals<\/div>\n

The DHS wrestling team brought its full group of 12 athletes to Cortez, and head coach Ben Doss\u2019 squad turned in a steady performance for third place.<\/p>\n

Junior River Wickstrom (157 pounds) and sophomore Daniel Jacket (215 pounds) earned individual titles.<\/p>\n

JJ Robson (106 pounds), Tanner Trammel (113 pounds), Adam Hicks (120 pounds), Bodie Fischer (132 pounds), Mason Hill (138 pounds), Darrin Hicks (150 pounds) and Kale Gates (175 pounds) each delivered multi\u2011win outings to help DHS finish with 97.5 points.<\/p>\n

The Bears\u2019 progress positions them well heading into the San Juan Basin League schedule. They hope to leverage their roster depth at the SJBL League Duals in Nucla on Thursday, Feb. 5.<\/p>\n

DHS will join Mancos and Dove Creek in the 2A Region 1 tournament in Cedaredge on Feb. 13\u201314. Wrestlers who place in the top four qualify for the state tournament at Ball Arena the weekend of Feb. 19\u201321.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Panthers finish just 1.5 points behind Bayfield; Dolores takes third in The Jungle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38,39,28,37,36],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores-high-school","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13714","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=13714"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20675,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13714\/revisions\/20675"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13714"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}