The undefeated dozen

The dozen wrestlers that won titles in their respective weights in last week’s Old Chicago Northern Colorado Christmas Tournament have a special reason to smile. That’s because this particular dozen are heading into the New Year with unbeaten records on the mat.

The tourney, held at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, ended up being a fine present for Thompson Valley as it dominated the two-day gathering. The Eagles advanced five wrestlers into the championship round.

Thompson Valley came away with three individual titles while scoring a whopping 334 points in the 51-team tournament, which included out-of-state teams from New Mexico, Texas and Wyoming. And, their effort easily outdistanced Pueblo County (218.5), Coronado (186), Mountain Range (171) and Greeley Central (160).

Winning titles for champion Thompson Valley was 120-pound Vlad Kazakov, who has a 22-0 record, 160-pound teammate, Parker Simington, 21-0, and 170-pound Mike Berg, 14-0.

Kazakov defeated Timmy Romero of Mountain Range, 10-7. Simington was able to make it tough on the Romero brothers as he defeated Patrick Romero, 13-5, thus giving Patrick his first loss of the season and dropping to 16-1. Berg upped his record, the result of a 9-7, victory over Berthoud’s Chad Ellis (17-1).

Yet the trio also had ample help from runner-ups Morgan Fogg (113) and David Eusea (195), Bronze medal winners, Collin Williams (138) and Ben Hewson (152). And, the Eagles will not be overlooking fifth-placer, Zack Kenniston (126) and Matt Berg (145), who finished seventh, for their efforts.

Fogg, by the way, was defeated by Joe Tapia of Capital, New Mexico, 2-0, and dropped to 18-1. Tapia kept his unbeaten record intact, too, now at 16-0.

“I’m proud to be here and this tournament can give you a good feeling,” said Patrick Romero. “The key is that you can’t underestimate any of your opponents. Anyone can come out and win. I’m excited for this tournament as it’s always good to have fun and work hard throughout.”

A superb trio from the various Metro Leagues also came through to keep their records unblemished. The threesome is Cherry Creek’s Josh Finesilver (19-0) at 106-pounds, Legacy’s Ryan Deakin at 126 (20-0) and Ralston Valley’s 182-pound Rocky Michaelson (18-0).

Finesilver got the unbeaten dozen off to a great start as he pinned Alamosa’s Isaiah Delacerda in 1:45 at 106-pounds. Delacerda dropped to 15-3.

“It’s been a good tournament and I’m delighted with the progress that I’ve been able to make,” said Finesilver, who helped pace the Bruins to a sixth-place team finish. “You just want to go out and do what you do best. I don’t think I was extremely focused when we first started, but I became focused pretty quick and was ready to go. I definitely feel good about this one.”

Finesilver might have felt a whole lot better had his previously unbeaten older brother, Matt, kept his record unblemished at 132-pounds. It was here that the elder brother was pinned by Discovery Canyon’s Sam Turner (13-1) in 2:39.

“This is a great tournament and one in which you have to get out and work hard,” said Finesilver, now 17-1. “What’s nice is that there are teams from all the classifications from 2A to 5A and out of state. I think it’s a big test for state. I just wanted to trust myself and be confident. I was extremely nervous at the start, but you just have to get going.”

Deakin was able to stay unblemished as he was able to pin Northglenn’s Rocky Nava in 4:58. Nava dropped to 13-2 with the loss.

“This really is a great tournament with just a lot of great competition,” Deakin said. “I feel confident and I’m giving it the best efforts I can. I’ve reached the semis and now let’s see how far I can go. I just want to wrestle hard and not get scared by any of my competition.”

Added Nava, “I came in prepared and I just want to go out and work hard. I was told that this is like a pre-state meet with such fine competition and it’s kind of a meet that can prepare you for the likes of state competition. There are some fine guys in my weight and this is a meet in which you can kind of gauge your competition.”

Michaelson pinned Mountain View’s Jonathan Hernandez in 2:15 to keep his record clean and thus dropping his finals foe to 17-2.

“This definitely is a big tournament and the key is to push hard and never give up,” Michaelson said. “Speed and technique are important. I’m unbeaten at this point and I feel confident right now. I just want to keep up on my efforts and not overlook any opponent.”

The remaining five unbeaten are out of the Metro area and leagues. But they are grapplers the state is keeping a fine eye on. Berthoud’s 145-pound Jimmy Fate is 20-0, Greeley Central’s Jorge Munoz is 19-0 at 285, Pueblo County’s Hunter Willits is 16-0 at 138, Centauri’s Jareb Aziz, 15-0, at 195, and Strasburg’s Shane Coombs, 8-0, at 220.

Legacy’s Trenton Blazon (113) and Nolan Funk (170) have been having pretty good seasons for the Lightning. While they didn’t place high for the Lightning this time around, their spirits are high.

“This is such a tough tournament and you just have to go out and try to do your best,” said Blazon, 9-4. “The key is to go hard, be careful and react. You just can’t give up. I was 8-21 last season, so I’m well on my way to improvement. I just don’t want to get caught on my back and give up points.”

Funk feels he has become much more aggressive over the course of the season to date.

“I do think this year I’ve been able to become more aggressive in wrestling,” Funk said. “This tournament has a lot of tough matches. The key is to be aggressive, but not to look past anyone. I know that I have a lot of tough matches ahead this year. It’s been fun in this tournament with guys from other states out there with us.”

Golden’s Romelo Salas and Prairie View’s Bradley Lehman had some outstanding matches, but eventually were dropped into the fifth-place match against each other. Salas (14-2) was given the victory over Lehman (15-4) due to injury default.

“I had my first loss of the year here, this time to the Texan (Zach Garza),” Salas said. “So far this has been a very good season for me. I’ve been going for four seasons to this tournament and I’ve never placed before. I just wanted to go out hard and be prepared.”

Lehman was quick to point out the strength throughout the tournament.

“There are just a lot of strong wrestlers in all the weights,” Lehman said. “I just wanted to get out and try my hardest. The key was to push hard and I do feel that I was able to give my 100 percent the whole time. I’m pretty happy with my performance. I just wanted to place.”

Lakewood’s Drew Strong had a strong outing in the 285-pound class. But when it was over, he had to settle for fourth place, losing 2-1, to Pueblo County’s Devon Marovich.

“This is a very tough tournament with a lot of guys ready to offer the challenge,” said Strong, now 12-3. “This is the biggest tournament that I’ve been in and it felt good to have advanced. I’ve got to keep an eye on all my opponents this year and stay with them the whole match. They have all been tough here today.”

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