PREP EVENT OF THE WEEK: CHSAA STATE WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS

When and where: Thursday-saturday at Ball Arena.

The scouting report: Legacy senior Quinn Funk and Mead’s team are expected to bring back some hardware from the state tournament at Ball Arena, which starts with Thursday’s opening rounds, and ends after Saturday night’s championship matches.

Nobody — and this isn’t a hyperbole — has been better than Funk in the state this winter. He’s been even more dominant than last season when he won the Class 5A 190-pound title and became the first of his five grappling brothers to win gold, breaking what they called the “Funk Curse.”

A curse now in reverse, the senior, who is now at 215s, remained undefeated on the year, winning 5A Region 3. He scored two pins before beating Fairview’s Sam Benton in the finals.

Listed at 41-0on the year, he goes up against Pine Creek’s Matthew Geri in Thursday’s first round.

As for the Mavericks, the expectation from the inside and out is for them to make a run at the 4A team title.

On The Mat — the site ranking the state’s wrestlers and teams — has had Windsor and Mead as the top two teams in the classification since the start of the season.

Last weekend, the Mavericks had six regional champs and qualified 11to Ball Arena. Otto Black (138s) and Leister Bowling IV (175s) are favorites to win their first state title for them. Jake Glade (150s) and Dalton Berg (190s) will look to repeat after winning gold a year ago.

In all, 71wrestlers from the Boulder, Broomfield and Longmont areas are expected to wrestle Day 1— 58boys, 13 girls.

The heavyweight division in the boys’ tournament is crowded with local contenders.

Three of the four 4A 285 regional champs are from around town. Broomfield’s Mars Soto was OTM’S 4A No. 1 in its last rankings before he won regionals along with Mead’s Grant Gordon and Skyline’s Rene Perez.

Centaurus’ Xavier Valentin-bradford, 5A’s No. 1, won, too. At regionals, he also logged the 100th varsity win of his career.

In the girls’ tournament, Mead and Broomfield each have five girls slated to wrestle.

Ashley Booth was a state runner-up last year for the Mavs, while teammate Erin Young (120s) beat Eagles freshman Breezy Johnston, 4-3, over the weekend for the North Metro Region 1 title.

Legacy is sending three girls, including regional silver placers Bettie Rains (115s) and Ari Hen (135s).

Other local regional champs are Legacy’s Matthew Clifton (5A 126s), Erie’s Carson Hageman (4A 165s), Noah Bridgewater (113s), Mead’s William Eilers (215s), Skyline’s Tobias Pinson (126s), Broomfield’s William Abrams (157s), Holy Family’s Abram Moore (3A 215s), Brayden Bach (144s) and Lyons’ Jaden Gardner (2A 165s).

All region winners have one of the top four seeds in their respective bracket.

The opening round for all girls and boys’ 3A/2A classes starts at noon Thursday, followed by 5A/4A at 4:30p.m. Friday, the quarterfinals for girls and 3A/2A starts at 8:30 a.m., 5A/4A 12:45p.m. The semifinals for all classes is slated for 6:30 p.m. that night.

Championship matches start after CHSAA’S Parade of Champions, which is set at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.