Girl Grapplers Steal the Post-Season Tournament Shows
Trevor Phipps
Wrestling fans across the Ute Pass region were thrilled when the end of the regular season arrived and the Woodland Park High School succeeded in 10 students qualifying to compete in the state championship.
The season, in fact, marked one of the most successful for the Woodland Park wrestling program, as the school ended up sending seven girls and three boys to battle the top grapplers in Colorado during the grand finale tourney. Not a shabby accomplishment, and one that puts WP in the land of state wrestling giants and sets a growing reputation as a team to reckon with.
The state wrestling championship tournament took place Feb. 19-21 at the Ball Arena in Denver. The top four qualifiers from the four regional tournaments held previously made up the 16 contestants (in each weight class) that fought it out in the state tourney.
Unfortunately, no WP grapplers this year were able to join the elite class of three state championship wrestlers the school has recorded in its history. But a handful of wrestlers did grab spots in the top six ratings. Moreover, the WP grappling teams demonstrated much promise for the future.
Girl Wrestlers Steal the Show
All of the talk circulating around the community has been about the star female wrestlers who took third place as a team in the regional tournament. At the regional tourney, Valeigha Fife, Jasmine Brewer and Cheyenne Becker all took the first-place trophy, giving them high seeds going into the state tournament.
Junior wrestler Valeigha Fife picked up the number two seed at the state championship tournament after bringing home the regional championship at 130 lbs. She ended up faring the best out of the girls with a fourth-place finish.
Fife pinned her first opponent Liberty Bellotti from Conifer in just over a minute. She then dropped her quarterfinal match when she was pinned by Eleanor Thorson of Canon City. She came back during the consolation rounds and then lost her third-place match to Thorson after getting pinned in just under two minutes.
Sophomore Jasmine Brewer came into the championship the fourth seed in the 105 lbs. weight class but ended up taking sixth statewide. Brewer lost in the first round to Jovanna Castro from Abraham Lincoln High School. She then made her way through the consolation rounds to the fifth-place match where she fell to Veronika Hafer from Holy Family.
All eyes were on senior Cheyenne Becker as she came into the state championship as the number one seed. This year marked her fourth year qualifying for the state championship and she took third statewide last year.
However, Becker once again made it to the semifinal round and then lost to Toryn Neugebauer from Holly (who would go on to be the state champion) by a pin in just under three minutes. During the consolation rounds, Becker made it to the fifth-place match and then lost to Elizabeth Gallegos from Las Animas.
Senior Lora Ptak at 125 lbs. lost in the first round of the championships and then fell short again during the second consolation round. Sophomore Ashley Witzke who place third at regionals at 135 lbs. lost both the first round and first consolation round at the state tournament. Freshman Billi Wells picked up fourth at the regionals and then lost in the first playoff round and the first consolation round.
All in all, it was a stellar showing by the girls’ wrestlers for the entire season and especially in the tournament bouts.
Three Boys Battle at the State Level
According to the team’s head coach Matt Hood, the boys team also went to the regional tournament and competed very well. A few of the wrestlers just missed the top four-marks to qualify, but three wrestlers still made it to the big tourney in Denver.
At 120 lbs. freshman Zayden Davis almost made it to the finals at the regional tournament, but then he lost a triple overtime match 4-3. Davis competed at the state tournament, but he fell short of placing after losing in the first round and the first consolation round.
Junior Eleazar Fuqua only started wrestling as a freshman. He took fourth place at regionals at 132 lbs. to punch his ticket to the state championships. Unfortunately, he too lost both his first round and first consolation round.
Senior Easton Wasilewski who has wrestled with Coach Hood for a long time, just missed his chance to go to state his junior year after suffering an injury. But this year, he picked up third at the regional tournament to battle at the state level at 150 lbs. He lost in the first round, won his first consolation round, but then lost in the second consolation round.
In the end, Coach Hood was excited about how well his teams did this year. He is also optimistic about the future as both the boys’ and girls’ teams will only be losing a handful of seniors to graduation this spring.
Hood also noted that the Teller Takedown wrestling club, which now consists of over 80 kids, will be bringing up more star wrestlers in the future as the grapplers grow into high school age. “We have some kids coming up that are going to be real stars,” Coach Hood said. “We have some in seventh grade that are two years out and they’re going to do some good things. The future looks good for us.”
