The Mustangs sent five middle school athletes to the state wrestling tournament over the weekend. The guys who qualified at the regional tournament March 24-25 include
Jace Bonacquista, wrestling at 80 pounds; Hunter Johnson, 95 pounds; Jackson McCabe, 105 pounds; Austin Garvey, 110 pounds; and Cole Bray, 115 pounds.
There were also two elementary student state qualifiers also. They had their own regional bracket. The state tournament takes the Top 7 from middle school regionals, and the Top 4 from elementary.
Rob McCabe, head coach for the middle school kids, was assisted by Freddy Smith this season. McCabe is the high school wrestling coach, too.
While the Mustangs fell a bit short in their state competition over the weekend, McCabe said he was impressed.
At state, Johnson, McCabe and Bray made it to the round with just 16 left. For middle school, there is no classification system, so the guys were competing against kids who feed into high schools ranging from 1A to 5A in size.
Coach said they all should have won their quarter-final matches. McCabe lost in overtime. Johnson was was just a bit late in his match and lost. Bray got reversed and pinned. Coach added Nucla could have had guys in the Top 8.
Bonacquista went 0-2; Johnson was 1-2; McCabe was 2-2; Garvey was 0-2; and Bray was 1-2.
“We fell a little short, but this is the first year in four years we have had a middle school program,” coach said. “So it’s pretty big for these guys to qualify for the state middle school tournament after not having wrestled the last several years.”
Coach said the guys were competitive.
“We were not blown out the water. … That was huge for these guys to do that. … We had tight matches, hotly contested, and came up short in several, which was bummer,” he said.
He agreed the kids were also wrestling opponents from very big schools. While Bonacquista faced a kid from West Grand, that was the only in-class match for the Mustangs at state.
Additionally, many of the wrestlers in Denver are kids who wrestle year-round and do not play multiple sports. The Mustang wrestlers have played football this year, along with middle school basketball and then jumped into wrestling, not having wrestled in some time.
Coach said he was simultaneously coaching high school and middle school wrestling, though in the last month, the middle school athletes have had his full attention. He said as they moved toward the end of the season, they’ve come a long way.
And, in league tournament wrestling, the Mustangs proved themselves. Bray was third in the league tourney, as was Johnson and Bonacquista. Gavery was second. McCabe was first. Even in regional wrestling, the guys were strong.
At the end of the state tournament on Saturday, despite nobody making the podium, coach remained proud.
“You go to Junction and Grand Valley, the Western Slope is stacked with good, talented wrestlers,” he said. “Those kids have been wrestling for years and years, and some full-time. Our guys competed well, and you never would have known that some haven’t wrestled in three years.”
