Pomona boys wrestling pins down 11th straight 5A Jeffco League championship

ARVADA — There seems to be no kryptonite that can slow down Pomona’s boys wrestling team.

The Panthers claimed their 11th consecutive Class 5A Jeffco League title on Friday night by dominating the 5A Jeffco League Championships wrestled at Pomona Junior/Senior High School.

“It just kind of a step towards regionals and state,” Pomona coach Sam Federico said of how he treats the 5A Jeffco League Tournament. “It’s nice to have it at home. It’s nice to wrestle in front of our home crowd a little bit.”

Pomona has now won 20 boys wrestling league championships in 22 seasons. Arvada West claimed back-to-back 5A Jeffco titles in 2014 and 2015 to break up the Panthers’ string of what could have been 22 consecutive league titles.

The Panthers won 13 of 14 individual weight class titles Friday night. Chatfield’s Luke Gomez prevented the complete sweep by winning the 126-pound weight class with a 2-1 victory over Pomona senior Zaidyn Quinonez. 

“That’s the expectation,” Pomona senior Maddux Najera said of the Panthers hanging yet another league banner. “When it doesn’t get done it’s a problem. I’m thankful for the opportunity. I love it.”

Najera had one of the busier nights with the 215-pound bracket going to a round-robin format. The senior wrestled four matches, including facing Columbine’s Jayden Perez in the 215-pound final which was a top-4 match-up according to the On the Mat rankings.

“Great wrestler and good kid. It was a good match,” Najera said of his 5-1 victory over Perez. “I’m glad my last match here was like that.”

Another marquee bout was the 138-pound final. Pomona senior Angel Serrano faced Chatfield’s Alex Rodriguez. Serrano won handily with a 12-2 victory.

“They both wrestled pretty good,” Federico said of Serrano and Najera winning their tough final match-ups of the night. “They didn’t get out of control. Both wrestled good matches. We’ll see those guys in the postseason I’m sure.”

Pomona doesn’t wrestle too many matches in its own gym with some many tournaments and not many dual matches, but it was still a bit emotional in the final time wrestling at Pomona for its seniors.

“It’s definitely crazy that this was the last time to wrestle in this gym,” Pomona senior Derek Barrows said after his first-period pin in the title bout at 150 pounds. “It’s bittersweet.”

Barrow, who has signed to wrestle at the University of Wyoming, will attempt to win a third individual state championship in a few weeks at Ball Arena. He also believes this group of Panthers could be record-setting.

“I think this team can break our team record from my freshman year. I think we would get over 300 points at state,” Barrows said. “We’ve got a good couple of freshmen on the team and a whole bench of old guys. With it being the last time at Ball Arena for a lot of us I think we are going to bring it. I think we are going to get it done.”

Pomona racked up 278.5 points to win the 5A state team title in 2023. It set the record for most team points at state. The Panthers sent nine wrestlers to the finals that year, claiming five individual titles.

“We’ve got them where we want them,” Federico said as Pomona will attempt to win an 8th straight 5A team state title down at Ball Arena on Saturday, Feb. 21. “I think they will be ready to go. Just cleaning up some things mainly.”

The Panthers will attempt to join Ponderosa as the only 5A boys wrestling programs to win 8th consecutive 5A team titles. The Mustangs won eight straight from 2003 to 2010. 

Pomona is going for the program’s 13th 5A team title since 2000.

The Panthers went 5-for-5 in individual state bouts last year in posting 235 team points. Pomona has four returning state champions from a year ago in sophomore Lincoln Valdez, seniors Emmitt Munson, Kalob Ybarra, Serrano and Barrows. 

“Just to stay healthy. We’ve got to stay healthy,” Federico said of preparing for regionals and state. “At lot of colds going around. I hope they get them now and not in two weeks. Injuries too. This time it gets pretty competitive, even in the room (practice). Everyone has that fire in their eyes.”

Najera is trying to get back to 100 percent. He actually had his appendix removed a handful of weeks ago.

“Wrestling is a different sport,” Najera said. “It’s good to stay healthy. That is a main focus the whole team has.”