A Grand Valley Senior wrestler made history in Delta on Saturday. KVNF’s Tamie Meck reports on the wrestling tournament, prep basketball, and the start of winter sports.
The Paonia Eagles wrestling team earned 234 points and placed wrestlers in almost every weight class to win the 25th annual Delta tournament. This was the third consecutive year Paonia has won the tournament. Ty Coats, Morgan Rieder, Joel Simianer and Tony Darling all were undefeated to win their respective divisions.
The Delta Panthers earned 182 points to place second. Delta senior Shane Anderson remains undefeated this season and was three-and-0 to win the 132-pound division. Nucla senior Tray Sickles defeated Paonia's Jorge Quinonez to win the 160 division. Sickels was also named outstanding wrestler in the upper weights.
Olathe's Trent Piatt defeated Bo Pipher of Paonia to win the 120 division.
Grand Valley senior Cody Pfau made state history on Saturday. Pfau was four and 0 at the tournament to win the 106-pound division. Pfau claimed two wins by pin and two by a major decision, defeating wrestlers from Coal Ridge, Cedaredge and Delta for the win.
But even more remarkable, Pfau, who is sixth in state 3A rankings, became the first female in state history to win a tournament undefeated. Pfau was also voted the outstanding wrestler in the lower weights by team coaches.
Teams throughout the KVNF listening area will compete at the annual Warrior Classic tournament, which begins tomorrow at Grand Junction Central High School. Paonia is the defending tournament champion. This is one of the biggest and most prestigious tournaments of the season and attracts wrestlers from throughout the region. Matches open at 10 a.m. Friday and at 9 a.m. Saturday. All championship matches will be aired live on-line on Saturday.
In basketball, the Hotchkiss Lady Bulldogs posted a 48-45 win Tuesday over Ridgway. The Hotchkiss boys team defeated Ridgway, 59-46.
The Norwood girls are now 3 and 0 after opening the season with wins over Aspen, Battle Mountain and Sargent. The Lady Mavericks have the weekend off and will host Plateau Valley on Dec. 21.
The Montrose girls defeated Rifle, 45-22, on Saturday. Montrose hosts the Black Canyon tournament, starting at 7:30 tonight, against Alamosa. Delta, Fruita Monument, Eagle and Grand Junction high schools will also compete in the three-day tournament.
Cedaredge faces Olathe this Friday, beginning with the girls game at 5:30.
The Paonia Lady Eagles spent last weekend competing in the Tiger Tip-off tournament at Holy Family in Denver. Paonia was 2-1 for the tournament to place third.
Eagles Josiah Spano and Taylor Walters each scored 14 points in Paonia's Dec. 7 home win over Grand Valley.
And with snow finally on the ground, more than 100 Nordic ski racers representing teams from throughout Colorado and Wyoming competed last weekend in the 2012 Grand Mesa Nordic Race. The two-day event is normally hosted by the Summit Nordic Ski Club in Breckenridge, which considered canceling the event due to lack of snow. Grand Mesa Nordic Council members managed on very short notice to get trails in shape for the races, which included a skate race, and citizen's 5K skate race on Saturday and classic race on Sunday. Results can be found on the council's website.
