Colorado pins down successful state wrestling championships

By Bob Herman

Once February rolls around in Colorado, many natives may hit the icy slopes of the Rocky Mountains or traverse the lush landscapes of the national parks and preserves.

But beyond the picturesque mountain scenery will be an arena packed with 900 sweaty and determined wrestlers and thousands of cheering fans.

The Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) state wrestling championships have been a part of the state's interscholastic competition for the past 73 years, with the first state championship held in 1936. This year's tournament will transpire February 21, 22 and 23, 2008.

The championships are held at the Pepsi Center in Denver, which is the home arena for the Denver Nuggets (National Basketball Association), the Colorado Avalanche (National Hockey League), the Colorado Crush (Arena Football League) and the Colorado Mammoth (National Lacrosse League).

Last year, a total of approximately 42,800 people crammed into the Pepsi Center during the three-day tournament, and CHSAA Associate Commissioner Paul Angelico said the wrestling championships have consistently brought in more than 40,000 people each year.

"We've been up as high as 47,000 (people) when we moved it to the Pepsi Center," Angelico said. "They tore down McNichols Arena (the Nuggets' former arena), and that was part of the draw - people wanted to see the new arena."

There are 14 different weight classes (from as low as 103 pounds up to the 285-pound heavyweight class), and 16 wrestlers from each weight class compete in a double-elimination, bracket-style tournament. Four different high school classes also compete (2A, 3A, 4A and 5A), and if everything is multiplied together, the result is 900 competing wrestlers with up to 10 mats being used at once.

In addition to determining an individual champion, the top six wrestlers in each bracket of each weight class also place and earn points for their respective teams.

In 2007, Parker Ponderosa High School became the Class 5A champion; Alamosa High School took home the Class 4A championship; Brush High School won the Class 3A title; and Dove Creek High School rounded out the championships with the Class 2A title.

Ponderosa and Alamosa have been particularly strong forces the past few years, and Angelico said the schools have potential placers in all of their weight classes.

Ponderosa has won the Class 5A championship every year since 2003, and it will look to grab its sixth consecutive state championship this February, which would tie a state record. Head coach Tim Ottmann also has led the team to every Continental League championship (12) since 1995. To put that in perspective, that is six times as many National Football League championships as the Denver Broncos have won in its 47-year history.

Alamosa won the past two Class 4A championships, and it also has had nine individual state champions since 2004.

Historically, Montrose High School, Wray High School and Holly High School have had the most successful wrestling teams, as they each have 11 team championships. Angelico also mentioned that Craig Moffat County High School, Fort Morgan High School and numerous other smaller schools have been both successful and well-represented with fans.

"Our small towns really support wrestling and the wrestling tournament," Angelico said. "They take a lot of pride in their representation in their tournament. It's really a community event for those smaller towns."

There have been some unusual occurrences at the CHSAA state wrestling championships in years past. For example, three years ago, a student was determined to be academically ineligible halfway through the tournament.

However, there have been many other distinctive anomalies.

There have been 14 four-time individual wrestling champions since 1959. The most recent wrestlers to accomplish the feat were Kevin LeValley of Limon High School, Torben Walters of Ordway Crowley County High School and Mikael Smith of Nucla High School.

Smith won an individual state title all four years a little differently than the rest, though – he was in a different weight class each year.

"That was amazing," Angelico said. "It didn't matter who he wrestled. He won no matter what class he was in."

Two Colorado wrestlers have completed their careers with unblemished records (Kyle Sand, Arvada West High School, 125-0, 2001-04; and Louie Guillen, Grand Junction, 63-0, 1966-69), and the feat almost happened in 2001. Angelico described the situation as one of the most incredible sights he's witnessed at the state wrestling championships:

"A Pomona three-time state champion, Tom Clum, was undefeated going into his last match of his senior year," Angelico said. "He lost and would've gone to the championship match, and he took it like such a gentleman. He popped up, shook the kid's hand and walked away like a champion. It's one of the most amazing things I've seen."

The wrestling regular season started November 29 across Colorado, and as the season wraps around into the new calendar year, the competition leading up to the state championships will become as fierce and intense as the winter in the Rockies.

"Wrestling has turned out to be one of the finest things we do in the state," Angelico said. "It's been really gratifying and fun to be a part of it."

Bob Herman is a fall semester intern in the NFHS Publications/Communications Department. He is a junior at Butler (Indiana) University, majoring in journalism (news editorial) and minoring in Spanish.