Three-peat
Whether Jayden Dobson is donning the blue and grey or the navy blue and shamrock green, he seems to always find himself atop the podium during the AIA wrestling championships.
Dobson, winner of the 2019 (195-pounds) and 2020 (225) DIII individual wrestling titles, became a threepeat winner on Wednesday after pinning Miami’s Skylar Guerro in the Division IV heavyweight state final.
“It feels just as good winning the third one as it did the first one,” he admitted.
He also became the first individual at Yuma Catholic to win a state championship since 2015.
“It felt great,” Dobson said after the match. “I had a bunch of mixed emotions and was surprised I didn’t cry this time.”
No one would have blamed the three-time AIA state champion if he expressed himself after a
grueling year.
Dobson, a transfer from Yuma High, had to sit out the first-half of the season due to the AIA’s transfer rules. It wasn’t easy for him to view matches from the bench.
“At the beginning of the year, it sucked,” Dobson said. “I wanted to wrestle with my boys, but when the time came, I was ready. All I’ve been thinking about since last year was winning another state title.”
Each of Dobson’s three titles have been in different weight classes. He said wrestling as a sophomore at 195 was tough because his natural weight is around 220. Dobson felt more comfortable competing at 220 as a junior in his final year at Yuma High.
And while clinching his third straight title, Dobson weighed in at 234.2 pounds in the heavyweight division – potentially nearly 50 pounds lighter than several competitors – but the difference in size doesn’t phase Dobson.
“I’ve just got to prove to them I’m the big dog here,” he said.
His win also propelled YC into solo second, the team’s highest finish in program history. The Shamrocks previous best finish at state 6th, which occurred last year.
“This team deserves it,” Dobson said.
Contributing to the Shamrocks’ success at the state meet was Mikey Doerr (106) and Jacob Navvaro (126) placing second, while Trenton Blomquist (170) took home third, Lorenzo Duran(182) fifth and Jacob Bernal (195) finished sixth.