<\/p>\n
For the Dolores High School wrestling team\u2019s two seniors, the Colorado State Wrestling Tournament provided a fitting farewell.<\/p>\n
For team\u2019s two freshman qualifiers, the tournament provided valuable experience.<\/p>\n
And for the team as a whole, Colorado\u2019s showcase wrestling event provided a preview of things to come.<\/p>\n
Upton flourishes in final tournament<\/p>\n
Competing in his final high school tournament, Bears\u2019 senior Ethen Upton (22-4) put the final touches on a brilliant career, finishing third overall in the Class 2A 182-pound division.<\/p>\n
Opening the tournament against Cheyenne Wells High School\u2019s Jeremiah Cozart on Feb. 20, Upton was completely dominant, pinning his overmatched opponent with little difficulty.<\/p>\n
With the win, Upton advanced to the quarterfinals match against Sierra Grande High School\u2019s Jose Cisneros on Feb. 21.<\/p>\n
Battling Cisneros for three periods, Upton won in dramatic fashion, scoring three points late in the third period to win a hard fought 7-6 decision.<\/p>\n
With the win, Upton moved on to a Feb. 21 semifinal showdown with Swink High School\u2019s Brody Wisemon.<\/p>\n
Hoping to advance to the state finals, Upton competed with Wisemon from start to finish, but in the end fell short, dropping a 4-2 decision.<\/p>\n
Undeterred by the difficult loss however, Upton moved into the consolation bracket where he defeated Fowler High School\u2019s Blaine Larson and Hayden High School\u2019s Taylor Lewis on Feb. 22 to earn third place.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was definitely a great tournament,\u201d said Upton. \u201cComing out of my tough semifinals loss and coming back to take third feels pretty great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Valdez ends career with fourth-place finish<\/p>\n
Wrestling in his final high school tournament, Bears\u2019 senior Deano Valdez (33-9) went out with a bang, finishing fourth overall in a stacked 145-pound weight class.<\/p>\n
Opening competition against Merino High School\u2019s Leon Johnson on Feb. 20, Valdez fought to a 10-4 decision victory.<\/p>\n
Not quite as sharp the following day however, Valdez dropped a 4-2 decision to Swink High School\u2019s Blake Denton on Feb. 21 in a match marred by questionable calls.<\/p>\n
Moving into the consolation bracket, Valdez dominated Norwood High School\u2019s Trenton Armintrout 11-3, beat Center High School\u2019s Jeremiah Mereno 3-1 and bested Burlington High School\u2019s Madison Grinnan 7-6 to move into the consolation finals.<\/p>\n
Again matching up against Johnson with third place on the line, Valdez was defeated 8-4, thus placing fourth overall.<\/p>\n
Martinez gains valuable experience<\/p>\n
Competing in his first high school state tournament, Bears\u2019 113-pound freshman Richard Martinez (31-13) was solid, finishing 2-2 over the course of two days.<\/p>\n
After opening with a 16-0 technical fall win over Fowler High School\u2019s Gino DeVore on Feb. 20, Martinez was defeated 9-0 by Merino High School\u2019s Marcelino Baptista in the second round on Feb. 21.<\/p>\n
Martinez then defeated Byers High School\u2019s Daldon Eldringhoff on Feb. 21 before being eliminated by Rocky Ford\u2019s Jeremy Fraser.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a good experience,\u201d said Martinez, reflecting on his state tournament. \u201cI think I could have done better, but the pressure got to me a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Medina wrestles well to conclude year<\/p>\n
Also competing in his first high school wrestling tournament, Bears\u2019 106-pound freshman Tristan Medina (20-16) turned in a solid performance, finishing 1-2 overall.<\/p>\n
After being pinned by Akron High School\u2019s Tanner Watson to open the tournament on Feb. 20, Medina rebounded nicely, pinning Las Animas High School\u2019s Marcos Fernandez on Feb. 21.<\/p>\n
Unable to advance further however, Medina was pinned by Lyons High School\u2019s William Hickman in the final match of his state tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was great being here,\u201d said Medina. \u201cI hope to get into the wrestling room over the summer so that I can do better next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Overall, the Bears\u2019 performance at the state tournament was certainly an encouraging sign for a Dolores wrestling program looking to build.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe accomplished our goals this year and we will be even better next season,\u201d said Bears\u2019 head coach Leo Garand. \u201cI\u2019m excited.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
third, Valdez places fourth at state tournament<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[188,13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-61365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores-star","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61365","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=61365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61365"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=61365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}