After a year away, the CHSAA state wrestling tournament returns to Ball Arena this Thursday through Saturday. Here’s a look at some of the top storylines going into the event:
Return to the Mecca — After COVID-19 moved the state wrestling tournament to Pueblo in 2021, the event returns to the Mecca of Colorado wrestling: Ball Arena. There are no COVID caps on attendance, as there were last year, but tickets are only available online. Visitors to CHSAANow.com will find a .
Four-timers club — There have been 29 four-time state champions in Colorado prep wrestling history, and 13 since 2014. Pomona’s Daniel Cardenas (Class 5A-152 pounds) and Woodland Park’s Brady Hankin (3A-138) look to join that exclusive club this weekend. Hankin may have the more difficult path with a returning state champion (Fort Lupton sophomore D’mitri Garza-Alarcon) lurking on the other side of his bracket.
Pomona vs. everybody — The Panthers have won three consecutive 5A team titles and five of the last six. With three individual state champions back from last year’s squad, it’s going to be awfully hard to knock Pomona off its pedestal. Ponderosa, which hasn’t won a 5A team title since claiming eight in a row from 2003-10, has finished as a runner-up each of the last three years. The rest of the 2021 team champions are going for a second straight title.
The gauntlet — The most brutal bracket of the tournament? That has to be the girls’ 118-pound division, which includes three returning state champions (Denver East senior Israel Resendez, Pomona sophomore Persaeus Gomez and Olathe senior Nicole Koch), two of whom are undefeated (Gomez and Koch) over their last two high school seasons.
Shot at redemption — The Class of 2023 will be the first to not produce a four-time state champion since 2013. The three who saw their dreams denied as sophomores last year — Wray’s Brady Collins (2A-132), Byers’ Lain Yapoujian (2A-138) and Pueblo East’s Weston Dalton (4A-145) — are all primed to make a run at title No. 2. Collins hasn’t lost a match all season, while Yapoujian and Dalton have four losses combined between them.
Loveland’s Johnson siblings — Loveland’s Kobi and Morgan Johnson are looking to become the first boy-girl siblings to repeat as state champions. Kobi, a senior, is going for his third straight state title in 4A at 120 pounds, while Morgan, a junior, is looking to repeat in the girls’ 105-pound bracket with her second straight undefeated season.
Going for 50 — A total of 18 wrestlers will go into the state tournament unbeaten this season, including six in the girls brackets. Thompson Valley sophomore Jackzen Rairdon enters the tournament 46-0, meaning he can claim a 50-win season if he runs the table in the Class 4A 113-pound bracket. Rairdon is 68-0 in his varsity career.
Super sophs — Rairdon is one of several up-and-coming sophomores in the field, with five boys and two girls eyeing a second straight state title to begin their varsity careers. Mullen 106-pounder Dale O’Blia is 57-0 and going for title No. 2 in 3A, while Pomona 118-pounder Persaeus Gomez is 50-0 over the past two seasons going into the girls tournament.
Championship changes — In an effort to create more buzz during Saturday night’s championship round, CHSAA will wait to hold the podium ceremonies until after all of the matches have been completed. “(Stopping for awards between weight classes) kills the excitement in the arena,” CHSAA assistant commissioner Adam Bright said. “When you keep rolling out wrestling match after match, the energy’s going to stay high. I want to do everything we can to keep that energy high (on Saturday) — I want to blow the roof off the place.”
Girls come to Ball Arena — For the first time, the girls tournament comes to Ball Arena, with 10 weight classes instead of 14 like the boys. And on championship Saturday night, they will get the center mat. “It’s their first time at Ball Arena (as a sanctioned sport),” Bright said, “so we’re going to put them right in the middle and make them the center of attention.”
Schedule
Thursday (Feb. 17)
Preliminaries
Class 2A/3A & Girls — Noon – 3 p.m.
Class 4A/5A — 4:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Friday (Feb. 18)
Quarterfinals
Class 2A/3A & Girls — 8:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Class 4A/5A — 12:45 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Semifinals
All classifications — 6:30 p.m.
Saturday (Feb. 19)
Consolation rounds
All classifications — 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Parade of Champions
All classifications — 5:30 p.m., with championship matches to follow
Returning 2021 state champions
Girls
2021 team champ: Chatfield
| Wrestler | School, year | 2022 weight | 2022 record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morgan Johnson | Loveland, jr. | 105 | 17-0 |
| Israel Resendez | Denver East, sr. | 118 | 24-3 |
| Persaeus Gomez | Pomona, so. | 118 | 28-0 |
| Nicole Koch | Olathe, sr. | 118 | 32-0 |
| Navea Garcia | Platte Valley, jr. | 161 | 19-5 |
| Taylor Knox | Calhan, jr. | 185 | 13-2 |
| Ciara Monger | Calhan, so. | 215 | 21-3 |
Other undefeated wrestlers: Alina Antillon (Jefferson, sr., 136), 37-0; Desza Munson (Pomona, so., 147), 29-0; Blythe Cayko (Eaglecrest, jr., 185), 28-0.
Class 2A
2021 team champ: Centauri
| Wrestler | School, year | 2022 weight | 2022 record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caleb Camp | Buena Vista, so. | 113 | 32-3 |
| Levi Martin | Mancos, so. | 126 | 32-4 |
| Lane Hunsberger | Cedaredge, sr. | 126 | 39-1 |
| Zach Tittle | Highland, sr. | 145 | 34-4 |
| Eyan Chavez | Centauri, sr. | 152 | 38-2 |
| Remington Peterson | Rye, sr. | 195 | 29-0 |
| Laith Ibrahim | Wiggins, jr. | 285 | 32-0 |
Other undefeated wrestlers: Brady Collins (Wray, jr., 132), 39-0.
Class 3A
2021 team champ: Pagosa Springs
| Wrestler | School, year | 2022 weight | 2022 record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dale O’Blia | Mullen, so. | 106 | 40-0 |
| **Roberto Estrada | Weld Central, sr. | 120 | 43-1 |
| D’mitri Garza-Alarcon | Fort Lupton, so. | 138 | 40-3 |
| ***Brady Hankin | Woodland Park, sr. | 138 | 32-2 |
| Zach Marrero | Strasburg, jr. | 145 | 38-1 |
Other undefeated wrestlers: Royce Uhrig (Gunnison, so., 126), 36-0; Ryan Dirksen (Eaton, sr., 170), 40-0.
Class 4A
2021 team champ: Cheyenne Mountain
| Wrestler | School, year | 2022 weight | 2022 record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jackzen Rairdon | Thompson Valley, so. | 113 | 46-0 |
| **Kobi Johnson | Loveland, sr. | 120 | 30-2 |
| Dominic Hargrove | Discovery Canyon, sr. | 132 | 28-2 |
| Ryan Vigil | Broomfield, sr. | 152 | 17-3 |
| Nick Gagliardi | Cheyenne Mountain, sr. | 195 | 45-1 |
| Xavier Freeman | Pueblo East, sr. | 220 | 17-1 |
| Matthew Moore | Mesa Ridge, jr. | 285 | 38-1 |
Other undefeated wrestlers: Dominick Padilla (Cheyenne Mountain, so. 120), 9-0; Dmarian Lopez (Montrose, jr., 285), 23-0.
Class 5A
2021 team champ: Pomona
| Wrestler | School, year | 2022 weight | 2022 record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ane’e Vigil | Prairie View, jr. | 113 | 32-4 |
| Jakob Romero | Pomona, jr. | 126 | 28-7 |
| Elijah Olguin | Pomona, sr. | 132 | 27-9 |
| ***Daniel Cardenas | Pomona, sr. | 152 | 35-0 |
Other undefeated wrestlers: Otto Black (Ponderosa, so., 113), 3-0; Greg Brooks (Rangeview, jr., 182), 25-0.
*** – Three-time defending state champion | ** – Two-time defending state champion
Other previous champions
Unless noted, weight listing is for current season, not previous ones, most weights have changed
| Wrestler | School, year | 2022 weight | Class-year | 2022 record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brady Collins | Wray, jr. | 132 | 2A-2020 | 39-0 |
| Lain Yapoujian | Byers, jr. | 138 | 2A-2020 | 22-1 |
| Angelo Lozado | Jefferson, sr. | 126 | 3A-2019, ’20 | 39-3 |
| Ryan Dirksen | Eaton, sr. | 170 | 3A-2020 | 40-0 |
| Weston Dalton | Pueblo East, jr. | 145 | 4A-2020 | 37-3 |
| Derek Glenn Jr. | Cherokee Trail, sr. | 120 | 5A-2020 | 41-4 |
