Day one of the state high school wrestling championships.
It’s day 1 of the state wrestling tournament. The early session is in the books. Last year because of the pandemic, the state tournament was moved to Pueblo. This was the first chance for the girls to wrestle at Ball Arena, and they put on a show.
In the 147 pound weight class, Aspen Barber of Palmer Ridge won by technical fall, after she spent six minutes tossing her opponent around like a rag doll.
The dominance continued in the 185 pound weight class. Coronado's Marissa Rosario turned her opponent into a pretzel and pinned her in 53 seconds into the match.
In the heavyweight matches, defending state champion Ciara Monger of Calhan apparently had somewhere to be because she only took 42 seconds to pin her opponent. Monger won a state title as a freshman.
Mesa Ridge's Mahalia Jones, only took 44 seconds to advance after she put her opponent in a grizzly bear hug, which isn't good if you're an opponent. It's her first state tournament and she's making the most of it. "It was really cool. I’m just really happy that I have a chance to be here, and that my hard work is finally paying off. It’s been really hard. Last year wasn’t as good. But this year I had a lot of help, especially from Matthew Moore, our heavyweight at Mesa Ridge. He helped me a lot to get better and stronger," says Jones.
On the boys side, TCA's Chris Hinds dominated his first match, pinning his opponent 22 seconds into the second round.
Woodland Park senior Adam Garner was unreal. He manhandled his opponent, winning by technical fall and a score of 16 to 1.
