Moffat County wrestlers rank highly at Berthoud tourney
As they prepare to see some of their toughest competition of the season in the next month, members of the Moffat County High School wrestling program gave as good as they got in their most recent run.
MCHS placed sixth of 16 schools at Saturday’s Diny Pickert Invitational at Berthoud High School, with five Bulldog grapplers making it to the podium.
As the top seed in the tourney’s 152-pound class, senior Daniel Caddy took his second championship of the month with a 4-0 day, complete with three falls to get him into the finals.
Caddy — ranked third in the 3A 152 class — faced off against Jude Quinlan of Loveland, and though his last bout of the day didn’t end in a pin, the Bulldog also didn’t give up any points as he held his opponent to a 9-0 major decision.
The other MoCo athlete in the championship round was Anthony Duran, with a first-round bye and a pin and a 6-1 decision against Centaurus and Elizabeth competitors, respectively, getting him into the 120 finals.
Paired with Skyline’s Liam Laughery, Duran wound up getting the silver as Laughery earned the fall in the second period.
Three Bulldogs fought their way through the back brackets to get into the consolation finals of the double-elimination event.
With success in his opening rounds, Kaden Hixson took a pin and a 15-3 major over Littleton and Fort Morgan foes before meeting up with the No. 1 wrestler in the 3A 106 rankings as Weld Central’s Roberto Estrada defeated him in the semifinals, remaining undefeated at 31-0 as the tourney champ.
Hixson quickly pinned Sterling’s Aden Young in the resultant round and gained third place immediately afterward thanks to a medical forfeit by Berthoud’s Will Moneypenny.
Also gaining the bronze was Pepper Rhyne in the 160 weight, starting the day with two pins before suffering a 16-1 technical fall against Weld Central’s Tanner Baumgartner, ranked fourth in the state, who also went on to win it all at the tourney.
Rhyne responded well, raired with Middle Park and Holy Family opponents, felling each to place third.
At 170, Michael Voloshin got a bye in a sparsely filled weight class, then moved on to the semis with an injury default against Sterling’s Dylan Zwern.
Hunter Branson of Holy Family — ranked second in the state and the eventual winner of the day — dealt Voloshin a 17-2 tech fall from there, though he came back with a pin of Berthoud’s Nick Campbell.
In the consolation finals, Voloshin was pinned by Skyline’s Caden Silva to finish fourth.
Adding to the Bulldog team tally, Caden Call (113) and Trace Frederickson (126) earned a pin and a 5-1 decision as each of them went 1-2 against tough opposition, while Blake Juergens (132) earned two falls and Dagan White (138) a pin and a 15-0 tech fall, both gaining a 2-2 day.
Though they were each slotted as the secondary athlete in their weights, Bordy Wiser (106) and Alex Black (152) each experienced victory in the tournament, Wiser 2-2 with a pair of falls and Black 1-2 with a pin.
With the 182 weight featuring three of the top four athletes in the 3A class, Daniel Cruz and Billy Lawton saw heavy competition, each going 0-2.
MCHS wrestling will next host Senior Night starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday with a set of duals against Grand Valley and Meeker.
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