Yuma High School’s boys wrestling team came home with two placers from the CHSAA Class 2A Boys State Wrestling Championship.
Senior John Smith placed sixth at 126 pounds, and junior Kevin Hermosillo sixth at 182, to lead the seven-wrestler Yuma contingent.
Two others earned one win as the Indians finished 23rd in the final team standings with 24 points. The Wray Eagles scored 167.5 points to cruise to the program’s fourth 2A title in five years, and extend their Colorado-leading state team titles.
Smith had one of the more interesting state tournament appearances in recent memory.
It began routinely enough with a first-period pin (1:57) of Highland’s Wyatt Meyer.
However, then came Friday morning’s quarterfinal against Levi Martin of Mancos. The match lasted more than 20 minutes, partly due to multiple stoppages thanks to Smith’s blood nose, and partly because it lasted multiple overtimes.
The grapplers dueled to a 0-0 tie through the first two periods. Then it started getting wild. Smith got an escape for a point in the third, but at the same time was called for stalling, leaving the score tied at 1. Neither got a point in the first overtime. The second overtime allowed both wrestlers 30 seconds starting from the bottom position. Martin was first, and got an escape. Smith responded with an escape during his turn, leaving them tied at 2. They were into a third overtime when Martin got an “ultimate tie breaker” win.
Smith funneled his disappointment later in the day with a 25-second pin of John Mall’s Giovonni Aldretti in the consolation second round.
That sent him into Saturday morning’s consolation third round, where he guaranteed himself a place with a 7-2 decision over Akron’s Laden Sampson. However, he then lost a tough 3-1 decision to Rocky Ford’s Carlos Gonzales.
That sent Smith into the fifth-place match against Crowley County’s Dillion Buford. He jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but Buford scored the next seven points on his way to a 7-5 win, leaving Smith in sixth place.
Smith finished with a 33-7 record, despite missing all of December while recovering from a broken foot.
Hermosillo also had himself some exciting moments in the 182-pound bracket. It began with a win by fall (3:06) over Malaki Rael of Swink on Thursday. It did not go well in the quarterfinals as the junior lost by fall (2:58) to Centauri’s Zach Buhr. However, he got himself to Saturday with an exciting 7-6 win over Wyatt Vigil of John Mall in the consolation second round.
That set up a consolation third round match with Limon’s Gabe Schubarth, where Hermosillo pulled out a thrilling overtime win, 5-3, with a great takedown in the extra period. However, he then ran into Wiggins’ Pepper Rusher, losing by fall (1:55), then was pinned in 40 seconds in the fifth-place match by Meeker’s Brendan Clatterbaugh.
Hermosillo finished with a 40-15 record.
Yahir Trejo got himself one win at 152 pounds. The senior lost by fall (3:46) in the first round, Thursday, but dominated his way to a 13-2 major decision over La Veta’s Brayden Nix in the consolation first round, Friday. He then bowed out with a tight 5-2 loss to Ky Bandy of Limon.
Payton Wells got his win in the opening round, an 8-3 decision over Meeker’s Hayden Shults at 195 pounds. However, he lost in the quarterfinals by technical fall, 17-2, to undefeated Remington Peterson of Rye, then lost by fall (3:59) to Nucla’s Arthur Connelly in the consolation second round, after seemingly being in control before quickly being pinned.
Kallen Blach went out on a heart-breaker at 170 pounds. The junior lost a 7-0 decision in his opening match. He met up with Fowler’s Evan Bottini in the consolation first round, Friday. He tied the match late with a reversal, but then gave up a reversal right at the buzzer to lose 4-2.
Trey Stegman gave it a great effort at 138. The sophomore first faced Rocky Ford’s D.J. Baca. He tied the score at 4-4 late in the match, but ended up losing 6-4 in the final seconds. He then suffered a 2-1 decision to Colton Montoya of Buena 
Vista in the consolation first round.
Senior Jose Ruiz competed at 285. He was close in both of his matches, but could not score, losing by the identical 3-0 score to Meeker’s Tanner Musser and Baca County’s Justin Wright.
