Both Nucla and Norwood are sending guys to the state wrestling tournament this weekend. A combined eight wrestlers — four from each school — will head to what was formerly known as the Pepsi Center, now called Ball Arena.
At the regional tournament over the weekend that happened in Cedaredge, Nucla’s Arthur Connelly and Paxtin Caruso took first in their brackets. JW Nasland was second, and Jackson McCabe was third.
The guys take off Wednesday morning.
Head coach for the Mustangs Rob McCabe is pleased and had been planning for state qualifiers this season.
“We had a great weekend of wrestling,” he said after regionals. “I believe it’s the best regional finish as a team in quite some time — and the most guys we have qualified as well. Arthur and Paxtin were both regional champions.”
McCabe said Connelly walked through the tournament “in dominating fashion.” He added that Caruso, who’d been battling an illness for several weeks, finally got over it and “looked amazing.” He said Caruso’s regional performance was the best he’s wrestled all year. Coach said Nasland, who finished as the runner-up, lost a tightly contested match in the finals.
“We look at that match as a possible state finals rematch, in which we know we can make the adjustments and come away victorious,” McCabe said.
McCabe, coach’s son, finished third in his bracket. He lost to the champion in the semi-finals, and then had to battle in his next two matches, where he “scrapped out to one-point wins.”
McCabe said he was proud of the other guys too. That includes Jacob Davis, the heavyweight, who finished sixth at regionals.
“I’m super proud of how far he has come in the few months that we had him,” he said.
Derrick VanDellan and Hunter Brier both lost out in the “blood round.” Cole Bray, Nolan Cressler and David Quigley finished 0-2.
Looking at the state brackets, coach said Connelly, Nasland and Caruso are set up pretty well to advance far into the tournament. He’s banking on matches in this Saturday night’s finals.
He did say McCabe has a tougher road with a bummer of a draw and “having to face a couple of the state’s premier wrestlers” in the first two rounds.
But, he said he and his guys are excited for a short school week and to get to Denver and start wrestling.
In Norwood, headed to state are Jackson Dinsmore, Coulter Shumway, Colton Kepley and Kannon Sherman.
"I am very excited to get four of our seven wrestlers qualified for state,” head coach for the Mavericks Kyle Dinsmore said. “I would have loved to have everyone qualified, but, all in all, it was a successful weekend for our team.”
Dinsmore said Sherman had a great day where he made the finals while recording two pins. That was before Sherman lost in the finals to Nucla’s Arthur Connelly. He added that Dinsmore (his son), Shumway and Kepley are good at putting up a fight.
“They all show lots of heart in their matches by never giving up when things get difficult,” he said.
The Norwood guys also leave Wednesday.
