LAFAYETTE — If three-man teams counted at the Top of the Rockies wrestling tournament, Arvada would have won the title hands-down.
Arvada’s trio of defending 4A champions won titles Saturday at Centaurus High School, the only team in the 32-team field to accomplish the feat.
But it wasn’t enough for the Bulldogs to contend for the team title. Arvada finished 12th, with Grand Island (Neb.) winning for the second time in three years, followed by Thompson Valley, Windsor, Broomfield and defending champion Pomona.
It was another positive sign for Arvada coach John Howes, whose team placed fourth in 4A last year behind its unbeaten threesome and sixth-place finisher Anthony Sandoval, who did not place Saturday.
“I don’t know if there’s a tournament as competitive as this one,” Howes said. “I felt we could compete, and our kids need that exposure.”
Seniors Dwight Howes and Marcos Peralta remained unbeaten since the 2010 state tournament, Howes rolling to the title at 195 pounds and Peralta prevailing at 160. Junior Garet Krohn, whose one loss after the Christmas break has kept the trio from perfect records this season, won at 182.
Howes, who won state at 189 last year, won his first three matches in this two-day tournament by pins and finished with a 24-7 technical fall win over Ponderosa’s Connor Crane. Howes has won all but three matches by fall (the other three were by technical fall) this season. He has had to go the distance once in the last two years, a decision in the 2011 state finals.
“The last kid put up a little bit of a fight,” Howes said of Crane. “I was hoping for the pin, trying for it. I just didn’t get it.”
Peralta, who won state at 152, beat two-time state runner-up Brandon Hoffman of Fort Morgan 11-7 in Saturday’s final.
“I’m a little bit disappointed,” Peralta said. “I expect perfection, and that wasn’t it.”
Krohn beat Cameron McCrimmon of Thompson Valley 14-7.
But, Krohn said: “I felt a little bit lethargic today because it was a long day. I couldn’t push the pace the way I wanted to in the third period, but it was a good tournament for me. I got some good competition, and that’s always important.”
Broomfield was the only other team to crown multiple champions. The Eagles got wins from defending state champion Phil Downing at 138 and Nick Babcock at 152. Babcock was named the meet’s outstanding upper-weights wrestler, with Greeley West’s Emilio Martinez (126) winning the lower-weights honor.
