If you ask Barry Himmelman when the confidence started to grow for his son, Travis, he’ll tell you it was one year ago. That was when Travis Himmelman, now a sophomore at Conifer High School, won the Class 4A state championship at 119 pounds.
A year later, that confidence remains as Himmelman shoots for his second state title, this time at 125 pounds. He got his run started Thursday night at the Pepsi Center with a first-round pinfall of Pueblo Centennial’s Abrum Griego in 3 minutes, 35 seconds.
Himmelman, 37-0 this season, struggled to keep his focus when he was called for an unsportsmanlike foul for a hard cross face. He lost another point shortly thereafter because of the incident. But after the match was tied at 4, Himmelman scored a quick reversal, then a pinfall to advance to today’s quarterfinals.
“I just went out there and tried to wrestle the match and not let the ref get to me. I didn’t do too good of a job of that,” Himmelman said.
He’ll have to do a better job the rest of the weekend, especially with Casey Lynn of Montezuma-Cortez and Derek Ruiz of Pueblo South still in the mix. Lynn and Ruiz entered the tournament with the next highest winning percentages behind Himmelman. Lynn and Ruiz meet in today’s quarterfinals, while Himmelman will face Thomas Jefferson’s Matt Francis for a chance to reach tonight’s semifinals.
Himmelman says today he has to “have a good match and not let the ref get to me anymore.”
In 2008, Himmelman wasn’t considered Conifer’s best hope at a state championship. That was 103-pounder Tony Peña, but the then-freshman, who entered state undefeated, lost in the semifinals to eventual state champion Jesse Meis of Alamosa. Now that the spotlight is centered more on Himmelman, Peña doesn’t mind taking a back seat.
“I feel better if the hype stays off of me and goes onto him,” Peña said. “I think that’s the main reason why I choked last year.”
Footnotes. Of the six returning state champions in 4A, four won by pinfall. The only ones who didn’t were Pueblo South’s Jeremy Aguero, a 4-1 winner over Arvada’s Matt Hollinger, and 171-pounder Brice Wolf of Greeley Central, a 15-0 technical fall winner over Englewood’s Nick Sheppard. Match of the night goes to Pueblo South’s Derek Ruiz’s 6-4 overtime decision over Jerry Huff of Broomfield at 125. Both were considered title contenders. Skyview’s Joe Maestas (130) suffered only his second loss of the season, a pinfall loss to Moffat County’s Charlie Griffiths in 3:42.
