{"id":13806,"date":"2026-01-26T00:57:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T07:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/panthers-bears-wrestling-looks-strong-at-butch-melton-invitational\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:41:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:41:23","slug":"panthers-bears-wrestling-looks-strong-at-butch-melton-invitational","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/panthers-bears-wrestling-looks-strong-at-butch-melton-invitational\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers, Bears wrestling looks strong at Butch Melton Invitational"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dolores'
Dolores' Daniel Jacket twists Aztec, New Mexico's Drake Rivera down to the mat during final-round action Saturday, January 24, at Ignacio's 2026 Butch Melton Memorial Invitational. Jacket won via pin 1:31 into the second period and placed third at 215 pounds. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

IGNACIO \u2013 With the championship portion of the season on the horizon for Montezuma\u2011Cortez High School, Dolores, Dove Creek and Mancos wrestlers, there is nothing like a big shot in the arm to lift the team into the home stretch.<\/p>\n

The Butch Melton Invitational, hosted by Ignacio on Saturday, provided just what the doctor ordered. Dolores used its incredible depth across all weight classes to capture fourth in the 17\u2011team field, while Montezuma\u2011Cortez High School added a ninth\u2011place team performance in the boys field, and the Panthers girls team took seventh in their competition. In addition to the strong team finishes, a total of eight athletes placed in the top three of their respective weight classes at the meet.<\/p>\n

Dolores earned a pair of meet champions, with Kenji Edwards taking first in the 132\u2011pound division after rolling to a 5\u20110 record on the day. Mason Hill also added a top billing by taking care of all five opponents he faced en route to a position atop the podium in the 138\u2011pound division. River Wickstrom took third in the 157\u2011pound division with a 4\u20111 record, while Daniel Jacket matched the feat with a 4\u20111 record at 215 pounds.<\/p>\n

For M\u2011CHS, Rusty Snyder bested the field in the 144\u2011pound division, closing out the top spot with a thrilling 13\u201112 decision over Monticello\u2019s John Leber in the championship match, capping a five\u2011match winning day for the Panthers senior and surpassing the 30\u2011win mark in his final season with the orange\u2011and\u2011black.<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's CeJae Snyder prepares to pin Bayfield's Elly Coey early in the second period at 120 pounds during Intermountain League girls' dual action Friday evening, January 23, inside BHS Gymnasium. The hosting Lady Wolverines, however, defeated the Lady Panthers 30-12. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Teagun Samora also made the championship match in his division before dropping his lone match of the tournament to finish runner\u2011up in the 120\u2011pound weight class. Orion Martineau posted a strong day, taking fourth place after a 3\u20112 finish to his weekend.<\/p>\n

Dove Creek\u2019s Keaton Banks finished 4\u20111 in the 106\u2011pound division to lead the small Bulldogs contingent in Ignacio, while Mancos\u2019 Jonah Ritter took sixth after a pair of match wins in the 157\u2011pound division.<\/p>\n

In the girls competition, M\u2011CHS sophomore CeJae Snyder led the way for the Panthers with the top spot in the 115\u2011pound weight class, posting a perfect 4\u20110 record. Reese Wing collected a pair of wins to earn third at 155 pounds in her strongest showing of the season, while Jaime Helm posted a win and a fourth\u2011place finish in the 110\u2011pound division.<\/p>\n

M\u2011CHS prepares for a home dual with Pagosa Springs on Jan. 29 before the main event on Saturday, when the Panthers will host a sizable field for the Panther Invitational inside The Jungle. Thursday night\u2019s action will also include a showcase of youth wrestling, as the Southwest Hammers will face the Colorado Crush and Stout Wrestling Academy wrestling clubs as part of a full evening showcase of local wrestling. The action begins at 5 p.m. with the Southwest Hammers on the mat, followed by the Panthers and Pirates meeting at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Rusty Snyder tries retracting Bayfield's Reese Appenzeller back into the circle during Intermountain League boys' dual action at 150 pounds Friday night, January 23, inside BHS Gymnasium. Snyder won a 6-1 decision, but the hosting Wolverines ultimately defeated the Panthers 47-21. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dolores'
Dolores' Daniel Jacket ties up with Aztec, New Mexico's Drake Rivera during final-round action Saturday, January 24, at Ignacio's 2026 Butch Melton Memorial Invitational. Jacket won via pin 1:31 into the second period and placed third at 215 pounds. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez 113-pounder Bodie Stiegelmeyer tries pinning Bayfield's Brody Zieske during Intermountain League boys' dual action Friday night, January 23, inside BHS Gymnasium. Stiegelmeyer officially made the stick 1:05 into the first period, but the hosting Wolverines ultimately defeated the Panthers 47-21. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez wrestler Rusty Snyder takes down Ignacio's Dillon Brann in a match at M-CHS. Snyder won this Saturday\u2019s Butch Melton Invitational in Ignacio in the 144-pound division. (Ben Bradley\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

collecting confidence ahead of Panther Invitational, league competitions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13807,"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-13806","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\/13806","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=13806"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19170,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13806\/revisions\/19170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13806"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}