Storm, Rams still 6A teams to beat
Rio Rancho rivals have won or shared last 10 championship trophies
RIO RANCHO — Coaches have come and gone. But even if personalities change at the top of the wrestling programs at Cleveland and Rio Rancho, philosophies do not.
And success certainly does not. The two wrestling behemoths have combined for a small handful of coaching changes over the years, and yet not a single wrinkle appears visible inside either program.
“I think the wrestlers at both schools have always been very talented and very accomplished,” said Cleveland coach Even Copeland. “We’ve just been very lucky, very blessed to have talented wrestlers.”
Rio Rancho already has won state titles under three head coaches. This season, the coaching switch occurred at Cleveland, with former Mayfield standout Copeland taking over for Corey Anderson.
Has the Storm lost any of its proverbial star power? Hardly.
All that’s really different — to an untrained eye, at any rate — is the guy running the show.
“I don’t have a big voice like Corey does. I like to stay in the background and things like that,” said the soft-spoken Copeland, who leads the Storm into the Class 6A state tournament starting today at the Santa Ana Star Center. “I don’t like all the attention of being a head coach. I guess I’m not used to that yet. It’s been a learning experience.”
The 31-year-old Copeland was an Anderson assistant. When Anderson left in the offseason for Arizona, Copeland got the promotion.
Copeland may not like that Cleveland, last year’s champion, enters the weekend as the 6A favorite, but that is indeed the case.
The chasers are all familiar to the Storm, starting with Rio Rancho, which finished second to the Storm at the recent metro championships.
That list also includes Volcano Vista, La Cueva and Manzano. And, for the first time, it also includes Piedra Vista, which is making its 6A state tournament debut. The Panthers mostly ruled the state’s second-largest division over the last five years, although Belen ended their five-year run on top last February.
Piedra Vista is perhaps the wild-card element this weekend as the Panthers try to do what almost nobody else seems able to do: stop Cleveland or Rio Rancho from holding a blue trophy. It’s been 11 years since anyone other than those two won an outright big-school title (Eldorado in 2006), although Rio Grande tied Cleveland in 2013.
“This year,” Copeland promised, “is going to be a lot different than years in the past. There is more parity.”
The Storm qualified wrestlers in all 14 weights for state. Cleveland’s list of contenders starts with two-time state champion Mikey Mascareñas at 120 pounds, where with a 42-1 record — against a demanding in-season, out-of-state travel schedule — will be the No. 1 seed. His older brother Paul was a four-time champion at Cleveland before he graduated in 2013, and his younger brother Tristan, a freshman, is a state qualifier at 106.
Mascareñas, Cleveland’s Noah Mirabal, Rio Rancho’s Ryan Rochford and Volcano Vista’s Richard Govea all are pursuing their third straight individual state championships this season.
Piedra Vista’s Nick Rino and Wes Rayburn both won state titles in 5A in 2015 and 2016 and are moving up this season as they look for a hybrid threepeat.
Govea (13-0) and Hawks teammate Marcus Santillanes, who will be the No. 1 seed at 106 and is 29-0, are the only two undefeated metroarea 6A wrestlers in the field.
(For a list of top metro-area wrestlers to watch, see the list that accompanies this story.)
CLASSES 5A, 4A: Two questions will be answered this weekend. Can Belen repeat as state champion? And will Capital’s Jose Tapia join the exclusive five-time champion club?
The Eagles don’t have to worry about Piedra Vista anymore, and they would seem to be the favorite to repeat this weekend.
As for Tapia, he is heavily favored to become the seventh athlete in state history to win five individual titles.
He will be 5A’s top seed at 138 pounds and hasn’t lost a match on the mat this season. The last two to reach the five-time club were Piedra Vista’s Anthony Juckes and Robertson’s Rico Montoya in 2015.
Others to have reached that elite level are Michael Scott Owen of Carlsbad (1998), Rio Rancho’s Max Ortega (2009), Robertson’s Daniel Martinez (2011) and St. Michael’s Koery Windham (2014).
Cobre is the defending state champion in 4A.
SCHEDULE: Bracket action begins at 9 a.m. today in all three divisions, with quarterfinals scheduled for this afternoon (3:155:15 for 6A and 5A, and 1:30-4:30 for 4A).
The semifinals are 9-10:45 a.m. Saturday. The championship finals begin for all three classes at 4 p.m. Saturday, followed by the presentation of team awards at 7 p.m.