Fort Morgan qualifies seven wrestlers

The Class 3A Region 3 wrestling tournament didn’t seem to be too much of a problem for Fort Morgan.

In the end-all tournament for anyone who wants to qualify for state — a feat achieved by placing in the top four of each weight class — the Mustangs made sure the seasons of five of its grapplers wouldn’t end there.

Jadin Carrera kicked it off for the Mustangs with third place at 120 pound after defeating Alameda International’s Mukhtar Hashimi in a 3-0 decision. Rhonnel Akele squeaked his way into the top four by defeating Abraham Lincoln’s Angelo Romero in a 10-3 decision for fourth place at 126 pounds.

Noah Aguirre outshined both of them when, in his 157-pound weight class, he struggled to match up to Alameda International’s Mushtaq Shokori in an 18-2 technical fall, but still pulled off silver in the weight class.

Colin Duckworth, in following the lead of Akele, worked his way into fourth place after falling in the second period of the 165-pound third-place match against Severance’s Joe Trygstad. Adolfo Hernandez wrapped things up in the heavyweight division with his own silver, after Severance’s Dominic Butts pinned him in the second period.

The 3A state wrestling tournament will begin on Thursday at Ball Arena in Denver.

The girls wrestling squad made its stop at the Region 1 tournament and, thanks to the stylings of a couple of strong ladies, qualified an additional two grapplers for the girls’ version of the state tournament, which will also be held at Ball Arena starting Thursday.

Edith Antonio Gomez kicked things off in her 170-pound weight class, which took her to fourth place after falling to Arapahoe’s Lizzie Padilla during the second period. Valeria Davila added her name to the qualifier list in the 190 bracket with her own fourthplace finish after Mountain Vista’s Ozi Ogu pinned her near the end of the first period.