4A boys wrestling: Pueblo East goes back-to-back, two wrestlers win third title

DENVER — What do you think about when anyone brings up anything related to Pueblo sports?

It’s a blue collar town with the work ethic that permeates down from the old guard to the high school kids today.

Perhaps no one athlete personifies that more than Pueblo East senior Weston Dalton. He was a four time state finalist and after Saturday night at Ball Arena became a three time state champion with a pin of Thompson Valley’s Garet Hendrickson in the second period. It was that one loss — an 11-4 loss to Loveland’s Cody Johnson in the Covid-field shortened finals in Pueblo — may very well have defined him and his success over the past two seasons.

“I learned what it was like to lose in the state finals and I’ve learned to appreciate (this) more and enjoy the moment,” said Dalton, who tried to eliminate all the negative thoughts that might creep into his head. “I learned (after that loss) that you can push yourself harder everyday and I told myself to be just one percent better every day. You can push back your barriers everyday and you can push back the wall.

“I learned to work harder and have a positive mindset and be confident in your abilities and in yourself that you can do it.”

Said Pueblo East coach Pat Laughlin, whose team held on to beat Windsor 154-145 in a tight team race: “Weston has always been a really hard worker and I think it sparked him just a little bit more and built that fire just a little bit hotter and every since then he has been cookin’.”

The University of Nebraska commit wasted little time against Hendrickson, getting a takedown just 19 seconds into the match. He would add six more near fall point before the period ended and was in complete control. After starting the second in the neutral position, he second takedown came just nine second into the period, the referee would slp the mat 12 seconds later.

“I ended up my high school career on a high and that was the goal all year,” said Dalton, who was the only state champions for the Eagles on a night they claimed their second straight state title and third since 2019. “I’m kind of sad that it is all over and it is kind of hitting me right now, but it feels good to end on top.”

It was the cherry on top of the Pueblo East sundae that saw the Eagles place eight of the 11 wrestlers they brought to Denver. The Eagles sent three to the finals, but both LJ Herburger (106 pounds) and Manuel Amaro (113) lost in their title matches — and briefly opened the door for Windsor — but Laughlin’s team did enough work through the consolation rounds to more than cover the spread. They got third place finishes Julian Espinoza (120), Sully Deherrera (157) and Sebastian Freeman (175) and podium finishes from both Niko Fernandez (4th at 126) and Tatum Rivera (5th at 138).

“This one was the toughest by far and it was a battle from the opening match until we closed the deal,” Laughlin said. “It was a nail biter all the way through and my hats off to the other coaches and their teams and I’m just glad we were able to come out and perform well today and do what we had to do, because it was tough.”

Lopez win the most anticipated match of the day

Fitting that Montrose’s Dmarian Lopez and Mesa Ridge’s Matthew Moore were the last match of the entire state tournament.

It gave the remaining crowd a chance to watch two of the best go at it one more time.

And just like he did in overtime of the state finals last year, Lopez got the better of his rival on Saturday night with a 2-1 victory to close out his high school career with 62 consecutive victories.

“I can’t even explain it,” said Lopez, who crowd dove into his Red Hawks classmates that made the trip to watch him. “I’ve been waiting for this for so long.”

And even with his sparkling 44-0 record entering the match, Lopez still felt like he was the underdog because it was Moore that was getting the looks from the University of Nebraska. Maybe now those big time school know about him.

“Maybe so,” he said. “I know I can compete with that kid.”

A “Rair”don Feat – Jackzen win his third
Thompson Valley junior Jackzen Rairdon’s focus was on thing and one thing only — Riverdale Ridge’s A.J. Hague.

The thought of claiming his third title in three years was somewhere tucked away in the recesses of his mind, ready to come out when — and only when — the six minutes were up. He knew it was going to take everything he had against Hague, whom he’d wrestled multiple times this season. He made the most of his limited opportunities and ultimately prevailed 3-1.

“I’m just super pumped up, because I knew coming in this was going to be an insanely close match,” said Rairdon, who held up three fingers to the Eagles faithful that came from Loveland to watch him compete. “And it is just so much bigger when it is such a hard match, so I was mentally prepared and just fired up when it was over.”

After a scoreless first period, Rairdon would get everything he needed in the second. An escape five seconds into the period and then a takedown with 12 seconds to go had him up 3-0 going to the final two minutes. The only point Hague would get would be a stalling penalty call in the third.

So does this one feel better than the first two?

“Oh yeah, 100 percent,” he said. “It’s the big rock, now we’ve just got one more.”

FULL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH RESULTS

106: Isaiah Harrison (Mountain View) def L.J. Herburger (Pueblo East) – SV 8-6

113: Zion Mares (Pueblo County) def Manuel Amaro (Pueblo East) – Dec 10-6

120: Jackzen Rairdon (Thompson Valley) def AJ Hague (Riverdale Ridge) – Dec 3-1

126: Chris LaLonde (Roosevelt) def John Kenney (Windsor) – Dec 3-2

132: Ramon Salazar (Erie) def Izaiah Padilla (Pueblo County) – Dec 6-3

138: Boden White (Pueblo County) def Isaiah Blackmon (Lewis-Palmer) – Dec 6-3

144: Jake Glade (Mead) def Tony Macaluso (Pueblo County) – Pin (5:33)

150: Weston Dalton (Pueblo East) def Garet Hendrickson (Thompson Valley) – Pin (2:21)

157: Javani Majoor (Falcon) def Leister Bowling (Mead) – Dec 3-2

165: Evan Perez (Windsor) def Gabe Zimmerer (Evergreen) – Dec 8-1

175: Dalton Berg (Mead) def Solomon Arnds (Vista Ridge) – SV 6-4

190: Bronco Hartson (Roosevelt) def Ezekiel Taylor (Vista PEAK) – Dec 7-0

215: Thomas Mayer (Pueblo West) def David Lopez (Greeley West) – Dec 4-2

285: Dmarian Lopez (Montrose) def Matthew Moore (Mesa Ridge) – Dec 2-1