With many of its wrestlers battling injuries, the Dolores High School wrestling team gutted out a tough week and enjoyed mixed results.
Ignacio dominates Bears
Opening the week at home against Ignacio on Dec. 18, the Bears were dominated in every match and found themselves on the wrong end of a 52-12 final score.
After both teams forfeited the 106-pound match, Stocker Robbins faced off against Brandon Ward and pinned the Dolores wrestler in the second period. Austin Hackney and Tristan Medina were pinned in exhibition matches.
Guy Wallace suffered an 18-6 loss to Lorenzo Pena in the 145-pound match, Riley Syra was pinned by Lorenzo Pena at 160 pounds, and Kellen Gatzke was pinned by Davey Cooper at 170 pounds.
Devin Reed lost to Joshua Gallegos in an exhibition match.
"(Ignacio) kind of out-aged us," said Dolores head coach Leo Garand. "They have some tough seniors in there. They had a lot of strong kids."
Bears go to Farmington
Next competing at the Webb Toyota Invitational in Farmington on Dec. 20, Dolores wrestled five dual matches and came away with two team wins. The Bears victories came over Gallup and Espanola.
"We had a couple of injuries, so I pulled a couple of guys out of the lineup," said Garand. "Even with four guys out, we finished 2-3."
Leading the way for Dolores was Ward, who finished the tournament with a 5-0 record.
"(Ward) is back to form now and he wrestled great," said Garand.
Wallace also finished with an unblemished record despite battling a painful rib injury throughout the day.
"(Wallace) was pretty banged up going into the weekend," said Garand. "I was proud of the way that he came out and wrestled. "It's the most solid I've seen him on his feet all year."
Other Dolores wrestlers finishing with winning records included Medina (3-2) and Reed (3-2). Gatzke finished 0-5 and Hackney earned his first varsity win and finished 2-3.
"(Austin) is a first year and he won his first varsity match ever," said Garand. "He won by pin, which was exciting."
Next up for Dolores will be a home dual against Shiprock on Jan. 6, followed by the Montrose Tournament on Jan. 10.
"Everyone is planning on getting into their weight classes coming back from break," said Garand. "Before break, we try to build up mat time and after break, it's all about elimination tournaments that get us ready for regionals and state."
