{"id":15352,"date":"2025-12-07T12:52:46","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T19:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/san-juan-basin-league-wrestlers-buckle-chin-straps\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:46:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:46:41","slug":"san-juan-basin-league-wrestlers-buckle-chin-straps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/san-juan-basin-league-wrestlers-buckle-chin-straps\/","title":{"rendered":"San Juan Basin League wrestlers buckle chin straps"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dove
Dove Creek junior Teagan Larimore looks to lead the Bulldogs wrestling program after his state performance in 2024-25. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

San Juan Basin League wrestlers have become fixtures on Colorado\u2019s 2A and 3A state podiums, a tradition that sets high expectations for every new season.<\/p>\n

Dove Creek head coach Colten Huskey knows the challenge well. His Bulldogs regularly square off against some of the state\u2019s best \u2013 often from their own backyard \u2013 and this year\u2019s roster has plenty to be excited about.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some tough kids, and the area knows we\u2019re tough \u2013 and this year we\u2019re hoping to push to the next level,\u201d Huskey said after his team traded football pads for wrestling singlets.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs opened with a strong showing at the Jerry Benson Tournament in Arizona, placing three wrestlers in the top five of their weight classes against some of the largest schools in the state. \u201cWe need these tests,\u201d Huskey said. \u201cThey\u2019ll help when regionals and state hit \u2013 our kids will know what it\u2019s like to have to fight for every point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leading the way is junior Teagan Larimore, who finished fourth at 132 pounds at last year\u2019s 2A state championships. Classmates Cael Beanland and Konner Spigner also competed at Ball Arena last February and aim for bigger things this season.<\/p>\n

Freshman Keaton Banks made an immediate impact, winning the 106-pound bracket with a 5-0 record. Conner Horn-Beanland went 6-2 at 132 pounds, matching senior Chad Kline at 144 pounds; both placed fifth. Beanland added an eighth-place finish, and Spigner closed the weekend at 3-2.<\/p>\n

Despite entering only five wrestlers, Dove Creek finished 13th overall with 187 points. Next up: the Western Slope Showdown in Montrose on Dec. 12-13.<\/p>\n

Mancos eyes another Bluejays blitz<\/div>\n

The Bluejays are back under second-year head coach Travis White, preparing for another San Juan Basin League title run.<\/p>\n

Sophomore Traycer White returns after qualifying for state last winter, joined by junior Tegan Mestas, who earned his first win of the season in Bayfield. Levi Gardner also picked up a victory at the Wolverine Classic as Mancos gears up for Western Slope tests and a trip to Albuquerque for the Conflict at Cleveland.<\/p>\n

Dolores welcomes new head coach<\/div>\n

First-year head coach Ben Doss leads a dozen Bears into the circle, hoping to build on last season\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n

Kenji Edwards (132) posted the team\u2019s best finish in Bayfield, taking third. Freshman Marshal Wickstrom went 3-2 for fourth at 144 pounds, matching Adam Hicks at 126 pounds as Dolores placed 13th overall.<\/p>\n

The Bears head to Price, Utah, next weekend for the Carbon High School tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several returning state podium finishers headline the new year on the mat<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15353,"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-15352","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\/15352","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=15352"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19613,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15352\/revisions\/19613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15352"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}