{"id":42078,"date":"2022-02-21T18:36:32","date_gmt":"2022-02-22T01:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/three-bluejays-climb-podium-at-colorado-wrestling-championships\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:05:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:05:02","slug":"three-bluejays-climb-podium-at-colorado-wrestling-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/three-bluejays-climb-podium-at-colorado-wrestling-championships\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Bluejays climb podium at Colorado wrestling championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mancos
Mancos sophomore Levi Martin looks to cradle Pueblo Dolores Huerta Prep junior Daniel Apodaca during Class 2A, 126-pound semifinal action Friday at the 2022 CHSAA State Championships in Denver. Martin lost 8-4 but rallied to finish third.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

With each passing year, the Bluejays\u2019 footprint grows larger on the state wrestling landscape.<\/p>\n

Capping another successful season for Mancos grapplers, three Bluejays earned top-six finishes in the 2A state championships to bring back more hardware to Southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n

Of the six Jays who took to the mats in Denver\u2019s Ball Arena, sophomore Levi Martin entered one of the most heavily loaded weight divisions at 126 pounds. The defending 113-pound champion\u2019s draw included last year\u2019s 120-pound winner, Lane Hunsberger of Cedaredge, along with Dolores Huerta Prep standout Daniel Apodaca.<\/p>\n

\"Mancos
Mancos sophomore Levi Martin looks to utilize the leg of Pueblo Dolores Huerta Prep junior Daniel Apodaca during Class 2A, 126-pound semifinal action Friday. Martin lost the match, but rallied to finish third.<\/span>Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Martin dominated his opening round to advance to the quarterfinals, where the road got bumpy. Yuma\u2019s John Smith pushed Martin to an ultimate tiebreaker, before Martin escaped with a 3-2 win.<\/p>\n

With Apodaca waiting in the semifinal round, Martin\u2019s strong run took a different route, as Apodaca controlled the second period to build a 6-2 lead, before Martin tried to rally in the third. Apodaca held on for an 8-4 victory, sending Martin to the consolation bracket.<\/p>\n

Unperturbed, Martin went back to winning ways again, topping Dillion Buford of Crowley County and Benny Gonzales of Rocky Ford to take home a third-place finish \u2013 the highest podium placement for any Mancos wrestler this year.<\/p>\n

\"Mancos
Mancos junior Ayden Mathews tries twisting Ault Highland senior Greg Coy to the mat during Class 2A, 160-pound consolation-bracket action Friday, Feb. 18, at the 2022 CHSAA State Championships in Denver. Mathews lost the match 4-2 but bounced back to finish fourth.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In his maiden voyage on the state stage, junior Ayden Mathews put together a run of his own. After dropping his opening match, Mathews put together a string of four consecutive victories, all by decision, to power his way to the third-place match in the 160-pound division.<\/p>\n

Mathews\u2019 victory over local rival Jamar Rankins of Nucla guaranteed him a podium finish, which he followed up with a tight 8-7 decision over Cade Blunt from Meeker. Mathews dropped the third-place match to Chris Deluca of Buena Vista but claimed fourth place overall.<\/p>\n

Classmate Lane Greenlee (195) also took the long road to the podium, falling in his opening match before winning three consecutive matches, including a 13-2 major decision over Arthur Connelly of Nucla, to make the medal rounds. Greenlee dropped his final two matches to finish 3-3 in the tournament but came away with a sixth-place finish and a podium placement in his first state appearance.<\/p>\n

A trio of other Bluejays, Dillon Eichner (106), Isaiah Martinez (113) and Cole Dainty-Guilfoyle (170), all posted records of 1-2 in the field and fell just short of podium finishes.<\/p>\n

\"Mancos
Mancos sophomore Dillon Eichner (right) works to stay balanced against Wray freshman Austin Snapp during Class 2A, 106-pound consolation-bracket action Saturday at the 2022 CHSAA State Championships in Denver. Snapp won by pin, denying Eichner a spot on the podium inside Ball Arena.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mancos
Mancos sophomore Levi Martin listens to instructions from coach Cole Allison during a pause in his Class 2A, 126-pound division quarterfinal match Friday in Denver against Yuma senior John Smith. Martin finished third in the division. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dove
Dove Creek senior Jaydon Bailey, right, prepares to restart atop Ignacio\u2019s Cayle McCoy during the San Juan Basin Leaguers\u2019 clash as part of the 2022 CHSAA State Championships\u2019 \u201cUnified\u201d feature bouts Saturday at Ball Arena in Denver. Bailey and McCoy went a full and crowd-exciting six minutes with McCoy pulling out a 7-3 win.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dove
Dove Creek senior Jaydon Bailey receives congratulations from Ignacio head coach Jordan Larsen (center) and assistant Ryan Boyce after his rumble against IHS\u2019 Cayle McCoy as part of the 2022 CHSAA State Championships' 'Unified' feature bouts. McCoy won, 7-3.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dove
Dove Creek senior Jaydon Bailey works to pry Ignacio's Cayle McCoy from off his leg after securing it with a shot during the San Juan Basin Leaguers\u2019 clash in Unified bouts. McCoy pulled out a 7-3 win.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

All six Bluejays will get another year of experience and have an opportunity to learn from their state appearances \u2013 the first trips for Mathews, Greenlee, Martinez, and Dainty-Guilfoyle \u2013 as they all return for the 2023 season.<\/p>\n

As a team, the Bluejays finished just outside the top 10, claiming 48.5 points, while Wray claimed the 2A team title.<\/p>\n

Bayfield senior Kobe Prior finished fifth in the Class 3A Division to bring home the only medal for the Wolverines. Teammate James Mars and Jordan Cundiff, Ignacio\u2019s Tyler Barnes and Keaton McCoy, and Durango\u2019s Tyler Woodworth and Jacob Fenberg all lost in the consolation third round Saturday to finish one win short of the podium. Keaton Pickering of Bayfield lost in the second consolation round.<\/p>\n

In Unified matches, Cayle McCoy of Ignacio won the only match at 106 pounds, defeating Jayden Bailey of Dove Creek in a 7-3 decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

leads contingent with third-place finish<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,37,29,346,1205],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-42078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-newsletter","tag-sports","tag-wrestling"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42078","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=42078"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85210,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42078\/revisions\/85210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42078"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=42078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}