Lady ’Cats top-20 at loaded event
Preceding Cañon City’s 2026 Duff Seaney Invitational by a day, CCHS’ Ladies Cañon Classic drew a whopping 42 teams from all the state’s expanses into east-central Fremont County on Friday, Jan. 30, with Ignacio amongst them.
And the Lady Bobcats held their own, tallying 77.5 points and placing 17th overall between Colorado Springs Mesa Ridge (79) and both Colorado Springs Doherty and Meeker (77 each). La Junta racked up 134.5 points and finished atop the table, but by only 2.5 points over runner-up Olathe. Ranked eighth in Class 5A going in, Castle Rock-based Castle View (125.5) earned third place, with Mead (113) and 4A No. 2 Las Animas (109.5) filling out the standings’ top five.
No. 5 in 4A before the spectacle, the hosting Lady Tigers scored 84.5 points and shared 13th place with No. 10 Fort Lupton.
For IHS, senior Krysten Neil captured first place at 135 pounds with five victories in as many bouts. Her first four foes all went down via pin, and each within two two-minute periods, and Neil secured the weight’s title by doubling up Lamar’s Addy Krug on the scoreboard, 14 to 7.
Senior Larissa Espinosa conquered the 235-pound division, going 3-0 with pins of Antonito’s Abigail Gray, Doherty’s Xayona Townley and Las Animas’ Elizabeth Gallegos – Espinosa’s only opponent enduring into the second period, but who trailed 12-4 before being affixed to the mat.
IHS junior Lainee Bradley won her first two bouts at 130 but was then pinned in 0:53 by Mead’s Grace Sierra and eliminated via an 18-0 technical fall courtesy Colorado Springs Sand Creek’s Karris Carter. Also, in the 130-pound division, Ignacio’s Kodi Mae Rima was an unlucky 0-2 and eliminated by CCHS’ Eleanor Thorson via pin.
At 140, Ireland Cates also ended up 0-2 after being pinned by LJHS’ Melany Garcia-Castillo but came within two ticks of lasting the full six minutes in her opening-round clash with CVHS’ Alizah Piasecki, who won via pin (Garcia-Castillo needed an elapsed 2:25 to pin Cates).
And at 145 pounds, Eliska Prokopova pinned CVHS’ Annalie Carlson in 43 seconds, but then was pinned in 51 by Lamar’s Jacquelyn Avila and eliminated 9-5 by Olathe’s Wittney Lawrence.
Looking ahead, the Lady ’Cats were to journey to Nucla on Thursday, Feb. 5, for the SJBL Championships, but results were unavailable at press time. After returning, Ignacio will begin final preparations to then go north into Delta County to vie for State berths at the North Fork-hosted, February 13-14 Class 4A-Region III Championships in Hotchkiss.