The host Grizzlies went 4-0 in the championship finals and finished fourth with 56.5 points. The Grizzlies were without three normal starters, including two returning NCAA Division II All-Americans, because of injuries. Western State went without a champion but had seven place winners to finish third with 70 team points. Colorado Mines had one third place finisher and finished fifth with 11.5 team points.
The Central Oklahoma Bronchos, ranked fifth in NCAA Division II, and the New Mexico Highlands Cowboys also competed in the 7-team tournament. Both of those schools were not figured in the team scoring.
However, both teams fared well with the Bronchos claiming a tournament-high 11 placewinners, including four champions in Earl Jones (133), Shea Timothy (149), Cort Petersen (165) and Josh LeadingFox (Heavyweight), all nationally-ranked wrestlers. New Mexico Highlands had one third place finisher in heavyweight Charles Saguil.
174-pound junior James Reynolds (Monte Vista, Colo.), one of Adams State's individual champions, was named as the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler after a vote of the competing teams' head coaches. Northern Colorado's Jack Maughn was named as the Colorado Collegiate Coach of the Year after leading the Bears to their first title since 2003.
Northern Colorado had seven total placewinners and was in a battle with the Falcons throughout the later rounds of the tournament. They did not clinch the title until the closing stages of the night as Hopkin defeated 2005 champoion Brenden McLean of Air Force. In the battle of two nationally-ranked wrestlers from the Division I level, Hopkin cruised to a 13-0 major decision win, the ultimate difference in the team scoring chase. Hopkin had pinned McLean in the second period of the 2004 final in Greeley.
Hopkin, ranked 19th in this week's Intermat/NWCA Division I rankings, improved to 18-4 on the year and posted two major decision wins and a semfinal win by fall over Central Oklahoma's Heath Jolley. McLean, ranked 17th in this week's rankings, suffered his first loss of the season in the championship, falling to 6-1.
Adams State seniors Rob McCabe (Nucla, Colo.) and Scott Cleve (Escondido, Calif.) each defended their state titles at 125 and 157 pounds, respectively. Grizzly junior Brian Pitts (Rio Rancho, N.M.) also won a second career title. He scored a 7-4 decision over Northern Colorado's Richard Lohr in the finals. Pitts had won the 125-pound title as a true freshman in 2002.
Air Force was paced by 184-pound champion Zane Hershey.
Seven of the top-seeded wrestlers claimed titles while Hershey won as the second seed. Pitts was a third seed while Reynolds proved to be the upset winner as the fourth seed. He scored a thrilling 6-4 win over Western State redshirt freshman Charlie Pipher, seeded third, in the championship finals. That win avenged a 13-5 major decision setback to Pipher in a dual meet on Jan. 12 in Gunnison. Reynolds had defeated 2005 runner-up and top-seeded Shawn Hart of Northern Colorado in the semifinals.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now