Bobcats save seventh at Melton meet
Barely 15 seconds apart, Ignacio’s final two wrestlers finished their final matches Saturday evening, Jan. 25, at the team’s own 2025 Butch Melton Memorial Invitational.
Both came out victorious, clinching IHS’ only individual titles at the fast-moving meet.
Locking up a 5-0 day at 157 pounds, junior Zane Pontine methodically pinned his first four foes inside IHS Gymnasium before defeating Dolores’ River Wickstrom by 15-0 technical fall. On the adjacent mat at 165, fellow junior Lincoln deKay also sought to go 5-for-5 and did so via 12-2 major decision over Kirtland (N.M.) Central’s Nathan Tom.
“Today he got to watch me,” joked deKay, whose win increased the Bobcats’ points total up to 67 – which ultimately held up to earn seventh place out of 17 teams. “It’s kind of sad sometimes because we wrestle at the same time every tournament; I don’t ever get to watch him, unless I finish quickly and then I can catch the end of some of his matches. But it’s always fun.”
“I think that was awesome,” observed senior Kendrick Nossaman, of his teammates’ unplanned timing. “They’re both practice partners, they push each other every day and I think they’re going to be really good going into regionals and State.”
“We’re just working towards regionals right now and I’m working as hard as I can with my wrestling partner,” Pontine said, referring to deKay (named the Melton’s Upper Weight Outstanding Wrestler). “And I…think I’m pretty ready; just need to get a little bit better conditioning and a little bit better technique and I’m there.”
Finishing 3-2 on the day, Joshua Kerrigan pinned three opponents – including final foe David Prettyboy of Bloomfield, N.M., 1:26 into the second period – and placed fifth at 126 pounds. Dillon Brann went 1-4 and ended up eighth at 138 after a 13-1 major-decision loss to Dove Creek’s Chad Kline, but Norman Hackett (144) and Cameron Bell (132) each went 0-3 and did not place in their respective divisions.
Unfortunately for Ignacio – which had hosted and placed fifth at the 2A San Juan Basin League Championships just two nights before – neither Nossaman (left knee) nor junior Aven Bourriague (upper left chest/rib) could compete due to injury.
Including Lower Weight Outstanding Wrestler Ethan Hice (4-0, first at 132), Cedaredge piled up 314.5 points and easily captured first place, while SJBLers Mancos snatched second away from Bayfield, 108.5 to 108. KCHS (102.5) and Bloomfield (87) filled out the standings’ top five, and SJBL champion Dolores (70) came in sixth.
Beginning February taking a weekend off from competing, IHS’ boys will next host the 2A-Region II Championships. First-day action, Friday, Feb. 7, is set to begin at 4 p.m. and, after concluding later that night, resume the next morning at 9:30 a.m.
Cedaredge, obviously, will be a heavy favorite to earn the event’s team title, but will definitely be pushed by teams such as Meeker and Monte Vista. In addition to Ignacio, all SJBL teams will be attending, as will Western Slope schools Olathe, Hayden, Oak Creek Soroco and Rangely. Also making the trip will be Kremmling West Grand, Bailey Platte Canyon and even Black Hawk-based Gilpin County.
LADY ’CATS TAKE EIGHTH
On the girls’ side of the tournament, Ignacio tallied 35 points and placed eighth. Atop the standings was Bloomfield (193.5), with Gallup, N.M., scoring a second-place 113 and KCHS a third-place 106.
Leading the way for IHS was Krysten Neil, who went 3-1 with three pins at 135 pounds and placed second. At 235, Larissa Espinosa needed to wrestle just once, but lost by pin to Bloomfield’s Caylee Miller and thus finished second.
And at 100 pounds, Madison Egger ended up 2-2 and in fifth place after pinning Monte Vista’s Elena Baumgardner.
The Lady ’Cats will next travel all the way east to La Junta for the Girls’ 4A-Region I Championships, February 7-8. Expected to join them and the hosting Lady Tigers will be (in alphabetical order): Antonito, Calhan, County Line (Eads/Cheyenne Wells/McClave/Wiley), Del Norte, Dolores, Florence, Gilpin County, Lamar, Las Animas, Monte Vista, Pueblo Central, Trinidad, Walsenburg and Woodland Park.
SAN JUAN BASIN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS (1/23)
- Dolores 67.5, 2. Dove Creek 60.5, 3. Mancos 54.5, 4. Norwood 52.5, 5. IGNACIO 49.5, 6. Nucla 39.
SJBL CHAMPIONS
106 – Traycer White, Mancos; 120 – Jackson McCabe, Nucla; 126 – Cael Beanland, Dove Creek; 132 – Teagan Larimore, Dove Creek; 138 – Jackson Dinsmore, Norwood; 144 – Owen Tackett, Norwood; 150 – Nathan Hill, Dolores; 157 – ZANE PONTINE, IGNACIO; 165 – LINCOLN deKAY, IGNACIO; 175 – Colton Kepley, Norwood; 190 – Jacob Martin, Mancos; 215 – Paxtin Caruso, Nucla.