Class 5A wrestling is top heavy this winter, and toward the top of that heap is Grandview, a program that has come on strong over the past few years under head coach Ryan Budd.
The Wolves took seventh at state last season, and appear primed to place higher at this year’s state tournament from Feb. 16-18 at the Pepsi Center. Denver Post preps editor Kyle Newman caught up with Budd to discuss his top wrestlers, the team’s challenging tournament schedule and room for improvement.
:Looking at the On The Mat rankings, I see you’ve got three guys ranked in the top four of their respective weights with junior Giovanni Federico (3rd at 113), sophomore Fabian Santillan (1st at 120) and senior Gabe Baumgartner (1st at 285). How are you feeling about those guys and your team overall?
A: We have a really tough season ahead of us, but the guys have been wrestling really well. Fabian just won the Outstanding Wrestler award at the Reno Tournament of Champions before break, and that’s a huge accomplishment. We’ve never had an individual champion there, and the best we’ve had a kid place is eighth.
So to have four kids place in Reno was great for us, and a lot of that is a testament to the kids and how hard they’re working in the room. That work ethic comes from senior 132-pounder Armando Santillan, Fabian’s older brother, as he’s been a very good leader for us and has really elevated the room.
:You guys clearly have a lot of talent in the lower weights, but what can you tell me about Baumgartner and the bigger guys?
:We’re really strong up top too with Gabe, because he’s one of those kids that’s like a sponge. Nate Robinson, who used to be the head coach at Overland and teaches here at Grandview, has been coming in and helping out with the heavyweights. That’s been really big for Gabe and others in the sense that Nate will show him something, and Gabe’s one of those guys who can pick it up and do it the next day in a match.
We also have senior Tyler Ross at 182, who’s been a match away from placing at state before, and then senior Robert Woods is the same thing at 195. We actually have six returning state qualifiers on this team, and it’s not just about those six kids, because the whole team has been elevated by having our talent spread out across all the weights.
:What’s the ultimate goal this year?
:We have a goal for every tournament—for example when we went to Reno, our goal was to finish in the top 17 and we took eighth, which was amazing for us. This year, a realistic goal for us would be a top five finish at state, and I’m obviously optimistic but I believe we can finish in the top three.
:With maybe one or two state champions mixed in there should your team finish in the top five?
:You know, all you’ve got to do is qualify for the tournament, and then anything can happen. With the schedule that we have, we wrestle the toughest tournaments in Colorado and do big national tournaments out-of-state. We’ve never had a kid be undefeated going into the state tournament, but the nice thing about that is we see Pomona and Pueblo County and all of those top schools three or four times during the year. So by the time we get to state, nothing’s a surprise because we’ve seen everyone in the bracket.
:What other big tournaments do you have on the slate?
:We have the Colfax Smackdown this weekend in which we’ll face off against Pueblo East and some other really good teams. After that, we’ve got the Arvada West Invitational, which is always one of the toughest 5A tournaments there is—there’s been years the top six kids who place there are the top six kids who place at state. We follow up that with the Top of the Rockies, which is the toughest tournament in the state. We had a really good run there last year, and I’m hoping for the same thing this year.
