Day one of the state high school wrestling tournament
Rob Namnoum
The Pueblo Central girls wrestling team came out strong, eight girls won their opening round matches. One of them, Maliyah Sandoval in the 170 pound weight class. She kneaded her opponent like dough on her way to win by major decision, “I just really want to, like, do my best and perform well, even though I did score a lot of points. It wasn’t like my best performance, so it makes me glad to fire under me to have the next one better, like ten times better,” says Sandoval.
Central’s dominance continued in the quarterfinals. Acelyn Duran apparently had places to be, so she stuffed her opponent into a box and shipped her off to Timbuktu, pinning her early in the second round. She’s one of four Wildcats to reach the semifinals.
Calhan junior Kayleigh Reese treated her opponent like she was paper mache, folding her into oblivion on her way to a third round pin. The small town girl making big time noise at state, “It really gives me a lot of confidence coming from such a small school, coming out, performing at the highest level for girls wrestling. It’s really only good to be a part of that whole small town get up thing,” says Reese.
On the boys side, Alamosa’s Ryan Cordova put on a show in his opening round match, pinning Sierra’s Donnie Herrera late in the third round of his 3A 165 pound bout, “Feel great. I’m happy with where I’m going in the tournament now. It was a big step in going forward and it’s just setting the tone for the rest of the tournament,” says Cordova.
In the Class 2A 120 pound weight class, Fowler’s Stockton Sharon decided to clean the mat with his opponent’s face, winning by major decision and clinching a spot in the state semifinal.