Walden Grove to challenge Crims

Yuma High hopes to repeat as Division III champions

For Yuma-area wrestling, the 2018 Arizona Interscholastic Association State Championships were historic.

Six local wrestlers won individual state titles, and 22 others placed. Seven of the eight local schools produced at least one top-three finisher.

And most notably, Yuma High captured the Division III team state championship.

What will the Yuma area do for an encore this year?

That will begin to unfold today, when the 2019 State Championships at Prescott Valley Event Center get underway for Division III and IV schools. The Division I and II tournaments begin Friday.

All eight local schools will be represented at state, with a total of 44 local boys wrestlers qualifying — 13 from Yuma High (Div. III), 11 from Cibola (Div. I), seven from Kofa (Div. I), four from Gila Ridge (Div. III), four from Yuma Catholic (Div. IV), three from San Pasqual (Div. IV), one from San Luis (Div. I) and one from Antelope (Div. IV).

Additionally, nine local girls qualified for the firstever AIA girls wrestling state tournament, which will be held Friday.

Here’s a closer look at the local outlook: Division III (today-Friday)

A year ago, Yuma High edged Walden Grove by half a point to win the Division III team title.

This year, those two teams are again expected to vie for first.

Yuma High (13) has more state qualifiers than Walden Grove (12), but the Red Wolves have more top-four seeds (8) than the Criminals (6).

Three Red Wolves are seeded No. 1, three are seeded No. 2, one is seeded No. 3 and another No. 4.

The Criminals, meanwhile, have three No. 1 seeds (sophomore Mario Bugarin at 113 pounds, senior Jacob Sanchez at 182, sophomore Jayden Dobson at 195), one No. 2 seed (sophomore Erick Cervantes at 152) and two No. 3 seeds (sophomore Jacob Navarro at 120, senior Aidan Irwin at 170).

Yuma High coach Jeff Welsing is hoping at least five Criminals reach championship matches and at least three others place — but even that may not be enough to top Walden Grove.

“I think we have a good chance,” Welsing said. “We’re going to have to get help from other teams to knock Walden Grove off in a few weight classes, and obviously we’re going to have to do what we need to do.”

Chino Valley — with 11 state qualifiers, including three top-four seeds — is another team Welsing expects to contend.

Welsing believes all three of his No. 1 seeds — Bugarin (44-3 overall), Sanchez (58-2) and Dobson (39-3) — are more than capable of winning individual titles, and he also highlighted Cervantes (53-7) and senior Shane Garcia (5th at 285) as potential finalists.

Freshman Mikey Doerr (5th at 106) rounds out Yuma High’s eight topeight seeds.

The Criminals also have five wrestlers seeded 10th or lower: senior Carlos Nunez (10th at 220), senior Anthony Jimenez (14th at 126), senior Leo Velazquez (14th at 132), senior Carlos Velazquez (15th at 138) and sophomore Josh Sanchez (16th at 145).

Of that group, Welsing has the highest hopes for Leo Velazquez — who took third at 132 pounds a year ago, but has just a 35-25 record this season.

Bugarin, Jacob Sanchez, Irwin and Garcia are also all returning state placers from a year ago.

Welsing noted that Yuma High’s chances of repeating as state champ would

be a lot stronger if junior 182-pounder Servando Campos was in the lineup, but Campos (40-3 overall) was lost for the season to an injury suffered last month.

Gila Ridge, which took eighth in Division II last year, joins Yuma High in Division III this year, but isn’t expected to make much noise. The Hawks’ highest-seeded wrestlers are juniors Ty Moreno (9th at 126) and Wyatt Robinson (10th at 195), while freshman Ayden Navarro is 13th at 113 and senior Justin Rhoades is 15th at 170.

Division IV (Today-Friday)

Last year, then-freshman Nicholas Steele became the first San Pasqual wrestler in seven years to win a state title. This year, the sophomore is looking to become only the fourth San Pasqual wrestler ever to repeat.

Steele, the only returning local state champ, is the top seed at 152 pounds after winning at 145 a year ago. He carries a 54-3 record into state, and his only three losses have come to out-of-state op- ponents.

Steele isn’t the only local Division IV wrestler expected to do well, as Yuma Catholic junior 120-pounder Miguel Loya and YC freshman 138-pounder Jose Macias are both No. 3 seeds.

Sophomore Aden Cain (10th at 132) and junior Brandon Miller (10th at 145) are YC’s other two state qualifiers, sophomore Edgar Espinoza (9th at 220) and senior Alijah Hicks (14th at 285) are San Pasqual’s other two, and for Antelope, junior Kristopher Reyes is seeded 7th at 106.

Division I (Friday-Saturday)

Cibola was the Division I runner-up a year ago, but its outlook isn’t nearly as bright this year. Of the Raiders’ eight state placers from a year ago, only one — sophomore Juan Sierra — is back at state this year. But Cibola is still strong in numbers with 11 state qualifiers, a group headlined by Division I Section II champs Zeke Guerrero and Liam Hoffmeyer. Guerrero (44-4 overall), a junior, is seeded 2nd at 152 pounds, while Hoffmeyer (33-9), a sophomore, is seeded 4th at 182 pounds.

Freshman Demarko Gomez (5th at 106) and Sierra

(5th at 113) are the Raiders’ only other top-eight seeds.

Junior Marcos Meza (9th at 220), junior Sebastian Valencia (10th at 160), junior Hector Astorga (11th at 195), junior Russell Phelps (16th at 120), junior Ben Torres (16th at 132), sophomore Victor Chavez (16th at 138) and senior Eran Franco (16th at 285) round out the qualifiers for the Raiders, who have placed top-five as a team at state eight consecutive years.

Kofa, which placed 10th in Division I a year ago, meanwhile, is sending seven wrestlers to state: senior Isai Alonso (4th at 126), senior Carlos Urias (6th at 160), junior Raul Aispuro (7th at 120), junior Anthony Morales (9th at 152), senior Matthew Castro (11th at 138), senior Daniel Rios Morales (12th at 145) and freshman Julian Ayala (14th at 113).

Alonso, Urias and Morales all placed at state a year ago.

After not sending anybody to state a year ago, San Luis will be represented by sophomore Janthony Vega, who’s seeded 9th at 106 pounds.

Girls (Friday)

In the first year of girls wrestling as an AIA sport, there is only one division, featuring 10 weight classes, with 15 state qualifiers in each weight class (top seed gets a first-round bye).

Unlike the boys format, the first two rounds of the girls tournament will be single elimination.

Six local schools will be represented in the girls tournament.

Kofa sophomore Carolina Moreno is the top local seed, receiving the No. 1 seed at 130 pounds. Also seeded top-four are Cibola freshman Mariana Reyes (2nd at 225), San Pasqual senior Layla Velasquez (2nd at 160) and Yuma High sophomore Arely Carvajal (3rd at 110). Gila Ridge has the most local girls state qualifiers with three: freshman Peyton Kessler (6th at 118), freshman Isabella Rodriguez (7th at 110) and Jaymi Baker (14th at 125).

Cibola senior Luz Badillio (11th at 145) and San Luis sophomore Jennifer Peralta (12th at 118) round up the group of local qualifiers.