Bayfield High School’s 170-pound Kobe Prior won one the state’s toughest wrestling tournaments of the year, Grand Junction Central’s Warrior Classic, on Saturday.
Prior started the tournament by pinning Rifle’s Levi Miller in 20 seconds. Prior won his second match by major decision, 15-1, over Berthoud’s Kaleb Cooper.
In the quarterfinals, Prior beat Mountain Vista’s Brent Langer, 6-2. Prior then won another tight match in the semis, 9-7, over Meeker’s Kelton Turner.
Prior dominated the finals, pinning Pueblo West’s Matthew Holdredge in 19 seconds to win the title.
Prior is now 11-0.
Deegan Barnes also placed at the tournament for Bayfield, and Durango’s Ryan Dugan, Ben Belt and Tyler Woodworth all reached the podium.
“It was a good tournament, but showed we still have a lot to learn,” said DHS head coach Robert Finniseth.
Competing at 152 pounds, Barnes won five matches to finish sixth, including four elimination matches. His last two wins were a 7-6 decision over Moffat County’s Ryan Duzik and an 11-9 decision over Dylan Chelewski of Fruita Monument, to reach the podium. Cale Moore of Grand Junction, however, beat Barnes twice by decision.
Belt had Durango’s highest finish, placing third at 170. He pinned Palisade’s Joshua Contreras and then beat Cole Curtis of Brush, 10-5. Belt fell to Holderedge 4-1 in the semis, but beat Mountain Vista’s Brent Langer, 8-5, in the consolation semis. In the third-place match, Belt beat Isaiah Alcazar of Montrose by a major decision, 13-5.
Dugan went 3-2 to place fourth at 106 pounds. Dugan pinned three of his opponents, but also was pinned twice.
Woodworth, who plans to drop down to 160 pounds after the break, went 3-3 to place sixth at 182. Woodworth won his first three matches by fall to reach the semifinals. In the semis, however, Finniseth said Woodworth tried a funky throw and his opponent landed on his ribs. Woodworth lost the match, and in the consolation semis, tweaked it again, resulting in another loss. He forfeited the fifth-place match for medical issues.
Two other La Plata County wrestlers were one win away from placing, both at 120 pounds. Durango’s Jacob Fenberg went 3-2, scoring an overtime win over Meeker’s Trae Kennedy in the fourth round consolations. Bayfield’s Keaton Pickering also went 3-2, winning by pin, a major decision and a decision.
Chris McGrath went 2-2 at 132 for Durango.
James Mars (138) of Bayfield and Riley Belt (138) and Payson Albrecht (152) of Durango all won one match at the Warrior.
Broomfield won the tournament with 180 points, followed by Cedaredge (169), Fruita Monument (167), Brush (151.5) and Meeker (149.5) in fifth. Durango finished 16th out of the 43 teams competing with 72 points. Bayfield placed 23rd with 57.
