Led by junior Jake Snider, who is on a collision course with history, Ponderosa on Friday remained on track to win its seventh-consecutive big-school state wrestling title.
The Mustangs, who sent eight wrestlers to the Class 5A state tournament at the Pepsi Center, advanced five to Friday’s semifinals and will have four compete for state titles Saturday night.
Before Friday’s late-night consolation bouts, Ponderosa paced the 5A field with a slim lead over second-place Loveland, and Pine Creek remained in championship contention. Broomfield (4A) was assured of the team championship, and Centauri (3A) and Paonia (2A) also had leads after the semifinals.
Snider (140 pounds) became Ponderosa’s first finalist, producing a technical fall over Westminster’s Joaquin Marquez while leading 21-3 with 1:10 remaining in the third period. Snider (35-2), who will conclude the season against Coronado sophomore Nathan Burak (41-5), is looking for his third state crown and to begin his senior season in position to become Colorado’s 16th four-time champion.
“It feels awesome, a lot of pressure relieved, getting through my first three matches” Snider said after his semifinal win, which was followed by victories by teammates Daniel Kelly (145), Steven Kelly (152) and Austin Gabel (160) . “I’m excited.”
Snider, the defending 140 champion who won the 125 crown as a freshman, said he’s been battling “stomach problems, colds” the past two weeks, “But right now I’m really feeling good.”
And so is first-year Mustangs coach Cory McNellis, who captured individual titles in 1996 and 1997 at Ponderosa before wrestling for the University of Wisconsin.
“We got half of the eight guys we brought here to the finals, so that’s great,” McNellis said. “The team race is tighter than previous years, with Pine Creek and Loveland having great years, but hopefully we’ll get some guys scoring from the back side (consolation matches) and come out on top again.”
Meanwhile, Air Academy’s Taylor Hollister — who entered state with the only perfect record at 5A’s 145 — fell 7-2 in the semifinals to Douglas Country’s Robby DePontibrand. DePontbriand will face Daniel Kelly, the defending champion.
Through Friday night, Broomfield had turned in the most dominating performance of the tournament — the Eagles not only rolled to the team title with 144 points, but also placed six wrestlers in the finals. They have lapped the field. Second-place Roosevelt stood at 72.
Nick Babcock (103), Courtland Hacker (112), Gabe Gomez (119), Jordan Gutierrez (135), Josh Ventine (160) and Cody McAnich (215) have the opprt8unities for the Eagles to make it an even wider margin.
In 3A, Centauri entered consolations with a commanding 118.5 points as well as four wrestlers in the championship round — Cahlen Keys (130); Phillip Sheridan (140); Iver Sandoval (152); and Vincent Chacon (Hwt.).
Next in the team chase were: Grand Valley (100); Brush (78.5); and Olathe and Lamar (63).
Grand Valley also had four in the finals and was to meet Centauri head-to-head in three of them.
The small schools have the best team race. Wiggins (107) led Paonia by a half-point.
Buddy Watson (125), Kohl Knutson (171), Tyler Davis (189) and Kyle Pollock (Hwt.) were in the finals for Wiggins. Justin Iacovetto (119), Justin Smith (145), Lukas Wiggins (152) are in for Paonia.
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
