West Grand Wrestling heading to state

by Brian Strathum
Head Wrestling Coach

The West Grand Wrestling team traveled to Montrose to compete in the 2A Region 1 wrestling tournament. The top 4 places in each weight advance to the State Championship in Denver at the Pepsi Center.

As usual, the region had the most ranked wrestlers and ranked teams going into the tournament which includes 4 regions. It is regarded as the toughest regional tournament year in year out. As a team WG placed in 9th place out of 17 teams. Wrestling for WG were David Santos 106, Ben Biekert 113, Gage Bonewell 120, Omar Dominguez 126, Jacob Murphy 132, Cameron Wood 145, and AJ Multerer 160.
Ben Biekert stepped up to wrestle at 113 after losing his wrestle off at 106. Ben was giving up considerable weight but managed to go out and compete with the much bigger kids. Ben finished the weekend at 0-2 but performed well. We are looking forward to Ben putting on some weight and getting himself ready for next season. Ben had more wins at the HS level this year than he did in his MS career.

Omar Dominguez 126 wrestled well but came up 1 match short of the podium. Omar was 2-2 on the weekend but was wrestling some of his best matches at the end of the season. The confidence of being able to compete at a high level is coming to Omar. His hard work and leadership is paying off as he has 2 years left of competition.
Jacob Murphy competed at 132 but had a tough weekend. Jacob got caught up in the pressure of being a freshman competing at his first regional and finished 0 – 2. Jacob is a hard worker and is already preparing himself for next year. His hunger to compete at a high level will help him progress quickly.

Cameron Wood wrestled at 145. Cameron finished the season wrestling tough losing to the second ranked kid in the state in the quarters. Cameron’s leadership will be a big help next season as the entire team except for Gage returns along with talented Freshman coming in next season.

AJ Multerer competed at 160. AJ came out ready to go and qualified himself for the Semi’s. In the Semi’s he lost to Neal from Paonia who is ranked #1 in the state. After losing AJ had a tough time coming back and lost his next match which put him into the 5th / 6th place match. AJ won by fall over a kid from Hotchkiss to place 5th in the Region 1 place away from qualifying for state.

David Santos has an outstanding weekend at 106. David’s hard work paid off in a big way for him as he had his best tournament so far. David won his first 2 matches on Friday which put him into the Semi’s on Saturday morning. David lost a back and forth close match to put him on the bottom side of the bracket. David came back strong with a big win with a kid from Hotchkiss which put him in for 3 / 4 place. David lost his next match but placing 4th and already beating the two wrestlers who placed 5th and 6th gave him the spot for State. David opens the state tournament on Thurs. With top ranked Seth McFall from Fowler.

Gage Bonewell continued to wrestle well at 120. Gage due to his seeding had a couple early byes. Gage then had a tough match in the Semi’s with a wrestler from Hotchkiss which he won putting him into the finals against #2 ranked Lewis from Highland. In the final Gage wrestled a close match but came up a little short to finish in 2nd. Gage is looking strong heading into his first State tournament and opens with Dalton Wommack from Custer County.

Wrestling begins Thursday at 2:00 at the Pepsi Center and continues Friday morning at 9:00 and concludes with Semi finals at 6”15. Saturday morning begins medal rounds at 9:00 with finals Saturday night. You can follow along with the action on Trackwrestling or live on the CHSAA website all weekend.