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Widefield, crowns three champs, takes 5A wrestling title

By Scott Stocker, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published December 8, 2007 at 6:38 p.m.

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LITTLETON - Silver Creek’s Danny Robinson has had a pretty good week.

Robinson, ranked No. 10 in Class 4A wrestling, pinned Bear Creek’s Justin Marts in 1-minute, :32-seconds to win the 160-pound weight class Saturday in the Columbine Invitational wrestling tournament. Last Thursday, he defeated No. 3 ranked Mike Trostel of Poudre.

Robinson improved to 8-0 with the win, Marts dropped to 2-1. But their two teams eventually shared seventh-place in the 10-team tournament with 79 points. Widefield, which crowned three champions, won the team title with 168.5 points. Mountain Vista finished second with 133.5 to nip third-place Mitchell with 132.5.

“This is a 5A tournament and I wanted to prove myself after all the hard work I put in this summer,” said Robinson, a senior. “It is finally starting to show and I hope to earn more respect. I didn’t make state last year, losing a heartbreaker in the region and got fifth.”

Robinson advanced to the final by pinning Mountain Vista’s Anthony Umana in 1:47 in the quarterfinals then beating Englewood’s Matt Burton, 4-0, in his semifinal bout.

“The last two big wins over ranked opponents are big time confidence builders,” Robinson said. “I know I deserve a higher ranking, but they don’t really matter. It is what you put out there on the mat and I think I’m putting out the effort.”

Robinson’s match was one of two in which unbeaten, ranked wrestlers faced one another. In the second, Mitchell’s Isaac Hooper defeated Bear Creek’s Nathan Macklberg, 14-13, being awarded three, near fall points as the buzzer sounded to stay unbeaten with a 6-0 record at 135-pounds.

Macklberg, who dropped to 7-1, jump out to a 10-5 lead after two periods. But then Hooper went to work putting his opponent on his back with less than 15 seconds left in the match and hanging on for the win.

“He kept on taking me down, I’m not very good on takedowns,” Hooper said. “I’m a lot better on the mat and that’s how I scored. I was a bit surprised he would let me up, but once on the mat, I’m confident.

“I didn’t go to state last year because I didn’t know that many moves,” Hooper said. “I hope it’s going to be a lot better this year. I’m off to a good start and I hope to keep it up.”

Bryce Penn of Englewood and Jeff Quinlin of Highlands Ranch also turned in fine efforts in winning at 145 and 171-pounds, respectively. Each earned wins over Widefield opponents, putting a slight damper on the Gladiators tourney effort.

Penn defeated Brady Evans, 11-5, while Quinlin came through with a 9-4 victory against Devin Hightower.

“I’ve won this tournament two years in a row,” Penn said. “I had to come in and prove it was not a fluke last year. I was really happy to have the good competition. I went six minutes with everyone. I need the hard matches so I can get prepared for state.

“I’m really excited about the season for myself and our team as we only lost two seniors,” Penn said. “I think we all did pretty good today.”

Certainly Widefield coach Gary Foltz can say the same. The Gladiators opened the championship round with back-to-back pins by 103-pound Stephen Prejean and 112-pound Jason Peterson. Prejean shouldered Mountain Vista’s Keegan Stritchko in 1:22 while Peterson pinned Bear Creek’s Dillon Le in 3:47. The Glads won their third title at 215 where Fulton Crabtree pinned Englewood’s Justin Williams in :53.

“Any win is a nice win,” Foltz said. “I brought five JV kids up, so I’m real thrilled as the kids stepped up and did a nice job. The kids that were supposed to win won and we had a couple of young ones from the JV step up and win a match or two.

“I was real impressed with Devin at 171 against Quinlin,” Foltz said. “I don’t know if it is true or not, but I heard he had not been scored on in 31 matches last season. Devin’s coming along fine and he’s going to do well this season.”

Chatfield’s Adeline Gray also came through with an impressive performance with her third-place finish at 140-pounds. She improved to 9-2 on the season and capped Saturday’s effort pinning Widefield’s Josh Ruby in 4:23. She lost her only match of the tournament to Mitchell’s Trevis Ryle, 2-0, in the semifinals.

Results

Widefield 168.5, Mountain Vista 133.5, Mitchell 132.5, Englewood 99, Highlands Ranch 89, Chatfield 82.5, Bear Creek 79, Silver Creek 79, Columbine 73.5, Weld Central 64.

Championship matches

103-pounds: Stephen Prejean, Widefield, pinned Keegan Stritchko, Mountain Vista, 1:22. 112: Jason Peterson, Widefield, pinned Dillon Le, Bear Creek, 3:47; 119: Michael Hernandez, Mitchell, tech fall, Robert Prejean, Widefield, 20-4. 125: Gabe Metzler, Mitchell, pinned Matt Ramirez, Mountain Vista, 1:54. 130: Daryl Jackson, Mitchell, def. Nathan Macklberg, Bear Creek, 14:13. 135: Isaac Hooper, Mitchell, def. Nathan Mackleberg, Bear Creek, 14-13. 140: Trevis Ryle, Mitchll, def. Matt Conahan, Mountain Vista, 6-1. 145: Bryce Penn, Englewood, def. Brady Evans, Widefield, 11-5. 152: Jimmy Hirsch, Weld Central, def. Josh Elder, Englewood, 15-13. 160: Danny Robinson, Silver Creek, pinned Justin Marts, Bear Creek, 1:32. 171: Jeff Quinlin, Highlands Ranch, def. Devin Hightower, Widefield, 9-4. 189: Marcos Pastrana, Highlands Ranch, def. Kyle Duley, Chatfield, 10-5. 215: Fulton Crabtree, Widefield, pinned Justin Williams, Englewood, :53. 285: Mike Visconti, Englewood, def. Mike Purcell, Highlands Ranch, 8-2.

Third-place matches

103: Armando Arreguin, Mitchell, def. Josh Chavez, Columbine, 5-3. 112: Brandon Knudson, Silver Creek, pinned Nick King, Mountain Vista, 2:38. 119: Robbie Orban, Silver Creek, pinned Steve Johnson, Mountain Vista, 2:41. 125: Chaz Glaser, Chatfield, pinned Ryan McConville, Silver Creek, 2:37. 130: Jesse Dyer, Widefield, def. John Krook, Highlands Ranch, 9-5. 135: Jacob Wood, Columbine, def. Cory Wittwer, Chatfield, 6-5. 140: Adeline Gray, Chatfield, pinned Josh Ruby, Widefield, 4:23. 145: Augustus Meikle, Weld Central, def. Tom Maxwell, Mountain Vista, 8-0. 152: Aaron Paz, Chatfield, def. Matt Smith, Widefield, 6-3. 160: Matt Burton, Englewood, def. Anthony Umana, Mountain Vista, 4-0. 171: Dalton Breen-Martin, Mountain Vista, def. Carl Nighswonger, Weld Central, 7-6. 189: Gabe Smith Mountain Vista, pinned Justin Jackson, Columbine, 2:01. 215: Adam Lamprect, Bear Creek, pinned Jeremiah Bossow, Weld Central, 2:55. 285: Jason Toth, Widefield, pinned Andrew Lambardi, Columbine, :40.