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Huskies wrestling sending three to state

Battle Mountain's Colin Stilson wrestles his way to the state tournament at 126 pounds during last weekend's reginal tournament at Vista Peak.
Special to the Daily |

EDWARDS — Three for Battle Mountain?

That’s right. Huskies wrestling is sending three to the Pepsi Center for 4A state tournament. That’s the most since Battle Mountain moved up to Class 4A during the 2000-01 school year.

During that first season at 4A, some guy named Angelo Vasquez made state for the Huskies. He’s now a darn proud coach.



“It’s exciting for this program,” Vasquez said. “It’s exciting for these three seniors. It’s so hard to get to this point.”

“It’s exciting for this program. It’s exciting for these three seniors. It’s so hard to get to this point.”Angelo VasquezHuskies wrestling coach

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Battle Mountain’s Jesus Morales (132 pounds), Colin Stilson (126) and Wyatt Harwood (170) all punched their ticket to state at the Region 3 tournament at Vista Peak last weekend.



3-for-3

This is Morales’ third trip in as many years to The Big Can.

Morales has an impressive run down at regionals. He got a quick pin of Littleton’s Jonathan Barron, which was a relief. It’s nice to get the first one out of the way.

Morales just continued to cruise, pasting Palisade’s Gage Nettleblad in technical fall, 18-1, and dispatching Canon City’s Tucker McDowell, 17-4, in the semifinals.

Pueblo East’s Trent Fair got a late pin of Morales in the 132 finals. There’s no shame in that. Fair will be the No. 4 seed down in Denver, while Morale is No. 7. They could see each other again.

“It’s just another wrestling tournament,” said Morales, about regionals, sounding very much like the postseason veteran he is. “You see how you’ve been doing over the season. I’ve been placing in every tournament. This time, you have a shot of going to state.”

Morales finished fourth in the state at 126 last winter, so he could be in the mix this weekend.

The new guy at 126

Battle Mountain will still be represented at 126 as Stilson finished third last weekend at regionals.

Stilson took care of Littleton’s Poe Di, 8-0, and likely thought he’d seen the last of him. Stilson dropped into the consolation bracket, losing to Greeley Central’s Zeke Ailrez.

Stilson bounced back nicely in wrestle backs, topping Montrose’s Jeff Deck, 9-2. His reward? Another bout with Di for third place. Stilson won again, this time by a count of 5-1.

After the regional tournament, the Huskies have rallied around Stilson, whose father fell ill on Monday.

“It’s rough,” Harwood said. “It threw us all off (on Monday).”

Harwood takes third

After four long years, Harwood is on his way to Denver. He bounced Mason Reshire, of Canon City, 14-5. After getting pinned by Glenwood Springs’ Myles Wilson, who is the No. 1 seed the state at 170, Harwood rallied for a 12-6 win over Vista Peak’s John Salazar.

After finishing off Isaac Maestas of Palisade, 11-7, Harwood took third.

“It’s indescribable,” Harwood said. “It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had. I’ve worked really hard for this for four years. To finish it off was something.”

Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934.


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