LAFAYETTE — Josh Kreimier just put his head down and kept working Saturday night.
And he would need every second.
The 119-pounder from Loveland gave up an escape to Legacy’s Chris Wessel with 12 seconds remaining and found himself trailing by one point in their title bout at the Top of the Rockies tournament.
As the crowd at Centaurus High School swelled in anticipation of an upset, Kreimier moved in and scored a takedown with two seconds remaining for a 10-9 decision.
“Heart. Just heart,” was Kreimier’s explanation. “I had no idea what the time was. I knew I had short time because when I looked last it was 20 seconds. I figured if I just keep wrestling, something would happen.”
It was that kind of night at the prestigious 33-team tournament, as nine of the 14 finals were won via decisions.
Ponderosa, Class 5A state champions for five seasons running, won the team title a year after finishing second here to New Mexico’s Rio Rancho. Jake Snider was the Mustangs’ lone champion, earning a 5-1 decision over Greeley Central’s Rodney Hesse in their 140-pound final.
Loveland led the way at the podium with four champions, led by all-American phenom and three-time state champion Tyler Graff. Graff had his closest match of the tournament in the 130-pound final as he was denied a pin against Roosevelt’s Dan Frank but took a 17-4 major decision.
Luke Vandenburg (189 pounds), Connor Medbery (215) and Kreimier pushed the Indians into a tie for third place with Northridge. Alamosa, behind 171-pound champion Cody Yohn, placed second.
Yohn, who did not place here as a freshman, won for the third time with an 8-3 decision over defending 171-pound state champion Brice Wolf of Greeley Central. Yohn said he knew he was in for a “grind match” with the well-balanced Wolf.
“This is a phenomenal tournament,” said Yohn, who will join his brother, Sonny, at the University of Minnesota this fall. “Winning it how I did and winning two of them with my brother is unbelievable.”
The tension was high in the 152-pound final that featured the top-ranked wrestlers from 5A and 4A and an undefeated record to boot. Broomfield’s Cory Casady changed all that.
Casady scored a crucial takedown with nine seconds remaining in the second period against Brighton’s Dietrick Turney to go up 4-2 and change the complexion of the third period. Working from the bottom position, Casady frustrated Turney before scoring a reverse with 15 seconds left to drop Turney to 28-1 this season.
“(He and I) probably have some bad blood from last year from here, and I used to wrestle over at Brighton when I was a little kid,” Casady said.
Conifer freshman Tony Peña reinforced his credentials with a 11-3 victory over Fort Morgan’s Francisco Diego in the 103-pound final. Attacking from the onset, Peña stretched his 6-1 lead early in the third with a takedown and near fall over Diego, who injured his shoulder late in the second period. Peña, who has won more than 20 tournaments in his career, is 26-0 this season.
“I usually don’t get nervous like I did, but I went out there, knew I was going to be aggressive and try to break the guy and get in good position,” Peña said.
The highly anticipated 135-pound weight class was settled with an injury default. Pomona’s Nick Jones was leading Jeremy Aguero of Pueblo South 7-2 in the third period before Aguero withdrew with an apparent shoulder injury.
Northridge crowned three champions and had the only pin in the championship round, when defending Class 4A heavyweight titlist Tim Saucedo stuck Fort Morgan rival Kyle Graules in two minutes, 42 seconds.
Justin Gonzales (145) and Patrick Gomez (160) also won titles for the Grizzlies.
