3A boys wrestling: Fort Lupton’s Garza-Alarcon wins premier match, Eaton claims team title

DENVER – When the 138-pound class hit the mats Saturday night at the 2022 wrestling championships at Ball Arena, most of the attention was focused on Mat 3, where Woodland Park senior Brady Hankin was looking to become the 30th four-time champion in state history.

Standing in his way was Fort Lupton sophomore D’Mitri Garza-Alarcon, who had already defeated Hankins twice this season and was gunning for his second state championship. After a strong start to the match, Garza-Alarcon hung on in the final period for a 4-3 decision to deny Hankins the four-time champion distinction and setting himself up for a possible four-peat.

“You’ve got to take out the best to be the best,” Garza-Alarcon said. “That’s all I can say about that. If I want to be a four-timer, I have to take out who is going to be a four-timer next.”

Garza-Alarcon (44-3) scored two points with a takedown in the final seconds of the first period and took a 3-0 lead into the final two minutes. Hankins (35-3) opened the last period with three straight points to tie the match at 3-3 before Garza-Alarcon earned a point with a reversal as the match wound down and held on for a 4-3 decision.

Hankins’ only three losses this season were to Garza-Alarcon.

“It gave me a lot of confidence,” Garza-Alarcon said of holding a pair of wins over Hankins before their title bout. “I also wanted to stay humble. I wanted to get into his head before he could get into mine. Once I got into his head, I won the match at that point.”

Eaton wins 3A team title 

Eaton took home the 3A team title with 127.5 points while Gunnison was second with 105. A pair of championships from Alex Castaneda at 132 and Dirksen at 170 helped push Eaton to the title. Eaton also had a pair of fifth-place finishes and a third-place finish.
Eaton was second a year ago to Pagosa Springs, but a plethora of consolation bracket victories helped push it to the top this year.
Jefferson (94.5), Mullen (93.5) and Moffat County (83.5) rounded out the Top 5.

Estrada caps career with third title 

At 120, Weld Central’s Roberto Estrada ended his high school career with his third state title. The senior pinned Gunnison’s Devin Gomez at 2:57.
“The first round was tough,” Estrada said. “I took a shot. Then in the second round, he took a shot and I did what I should do.”

He is only the second Weld Central wrestler to win three state championships after improving to 47-1 on the season.

“It’s a dream,” Estrada said. “I never thought I would be here. It’s a dream come true. I enjoyed it more this year. Sophomore year was my first time winning it, but I didn’t enjoy the atmosphere and the crowd. This year is different, the whole feeling.”

Jefferson senior Angelo Lozado (41-4) was also going for a three-put, but ran into Gunnison sophomore Royce Uhrig. Uhrig finished a 40-0 season with an 8-7 decision over the two-time champ.

O’Blia wins second title, goes undefeated in sophomore season

At 106, Mullin sophomore Dale O’Blia finished his undefeated season at 44-0 with a 5-2 decision over Jefferson freshman Samuel Rosales. O’Blia has now gone two seasons without losing a match and has two state titles to show for his success.

Marrero, Dirksen also repeat 

Strasburg Junior Zach Marrero won his second state title with a 6-4 decision over Platte Valley’s Jonathan Malovich at 145. Marrero only lost once this season on his way to a 42-1 record. Eaton senior Ryan Dirksen also won his second title, completing an undefeated campaign (44-0) with a pin of Mullen’s Kaleb Valdez-Lemons at 4:47 at 170.