The Paonia Eagles beat out 38 teams to win last weekend's Warrior Classic wrestling tournament. The prestigious all-class tournament attracts teams from throughout the state, Utah, Wyoming and Arizona. KVNF sports reporter Tamie Meck has more.
The Eagles earned 204 and a half points and claimed two championships to win the 35th annual Warrior Classic.
At 113 pounds, sophomore Josh Altman defeated Matt Lavengood of Durango in an 8-5 decision to claim his first Warrior title. And at 195 pounds, Morgan Rieder had a first-round pin over Ty LaFramboise of Eagle Valley for the win. Rieder is now 14 and 0 for the season.
At 182 pounds, Tyler Kendall lost by a 6 to 0 decision to Class 5A wrestler Josh Semmler of Roosevelt to place second. And at 285, Paonia's Tony Darling also placed second after a loss by pin to Cole Mair of Uintah, Utah. Darling will enter the new year with a 12-1 record.
At 120 pounds, Olathe junior Trenton Piatt held on to his perfect record, defeating Paonia freshman Bo Pipher by a 3-0 decision. And Olathe's Austin Shank defeated Logan Newman of Rocky Mountain to place third in the 113-pound division.
Two top- ranked local wrestlers worked their way through the 160-pound bracket to compete for the championship. Montrose senior Marcus Velasquez, the top-ranked 4A wrestler, gave 2A wrestler Trey Sickels of Nucla his first loss of the season. Velasquez managed a 6-4 win for the championship.
Cedaredge freshman Austin Todd defeated Fruita Monument junior Eli Konrad, 3-0, to place fifth. At 145 pounds, Paonia's Ty Coats also placed fifth after pinning Trevor Garcia of Palisade. Paonia sophomore 220 Joel Seminiar lost to Daniel Gustavson of Durango by an 8-2 decision to place sixth.
In basketball, the Delta girls opened the season with three losses at the annual Black Canyon tournament at Montrose. The Lady Panthers opened with a 46-39 loss to Grand Junction on Thursday. On Friday they fell to Fruita Monument by a score of 58-48, and on the final day of the three-day tournament, lost 52-39 to Montrose.
Montrose was undefeated for the tournament, also topping Roosevelt 52-36, and Alamosa, 59-39. The Lady Indians are 5-1 after a season-opening loss on Dec. 6 to Elizabeth.
The Cedaredge boys are now 2-2 after a 61-46 loss to Aspen on Tuesday. And the Lady Bruins are 3-1 after a 50-26 win over the Lady Skiers.
The Norwood girls are now 4 and 0 following a 31-49 win over Sargent. The Lady Mavericks host Plateau Valley tonight at 6, and welcome Dolores on Saturday.
And the Hotchkiss girls upped their winning streak to six Tuesday with an 82-44 win over Ouray. Point guard Natalie Anderson scored 25 points for Hotchkiss, with Ouray's Jackie Saunders scoring a game high 28 points for the Lady Trojans.
Delta County schools will compete today and tomorrow in the annual Colorado First National Bank tournament. The Delta girls and boys teams are the defending tournament champions. Paonia and Hotchkiss will open the tournament, with the girls tipping off at 3, followed by the boys game at 4:30. The Delta and Cedaredge girls are scheduled to play at 6, followed by the Cedaredge/Delta boys' game. Consolation games begin Saturday at 3 p.m. The tournament will wrap up Saturday evening with the men's championship game, scheduled for 7:30. All games will be held at Delta High School.
