VOLCANO ERUPTS
Hawks place in every weight class to claim 5A team title
RIO RANCHO – Make it backto-back for the Volcano Vista boys wrestling program.
The deep and talented Hawks had a huge weekend at the Rio Rancho Events Center, and on Saturday night rolled to the 2024 Class 5A state championship, scoring 253½ points to easily secure the title.
“It was amazing to watch all the kids shine,” Volcano Vista coach Ahren Griego said. “They worked so hard and bought into the system, and I have the best coaches to help me and support me, boys and girls. And the kids love us, and we love them.”
Bloomfield held off Aztec in Class 4A-1A boys, and Cleveland was crowned the girls state champion.
CLASS 5A BOYS: The Hawks placed at every one of the 13 weight divisions, and had eight finalists (a school record) as they won their second straight blue trophy. District rival Cleveland was a distant second (206 1/2).
“It’s amazing,” said Hawks sophomore Jonathon Romero, the state champion at 133 pounds. “I think it’s harder to make our varsity lineup than it is to place at state. We have a lot of kids who could get to the podium who didn’t make the team.”
Romero (41-3) was dominant over the weekend, as he won all four of his matches by pin.
His teammate Lorenzo Gallegos, also a sophomore, took the 145-pound title as the top seed in his bracket, to earn his second state title.
Runner-up Cleveland had a pair of state champs. That included sophomore Roman Luttrell, who completed a dominant season at 114 pounds (45-2), as the top seed won 6-0 in his championship match against second-seeded Gabriel Serros of Volcano Vista. That was the only one of Luttrell’s four matches this weekend that went the distance after pinning his first three opponents.
Junior Wade Wallace of the Storm took the 139-pound bracket, knocking off top-seeded Xzavier Salazar
of Volcano Vista in the final.
La Cueva produced three state champions, more than any 5A school. They are all juniors, led by unbeaten Mason Posa (26-0) at 215 pounds, and unbeaten heavyweight Mark Handy (28-0). For Posa, it was his third title in as many seasons with the Bears. He won all four of his matches this weekend by pin, three in the first period. He pinned Farmington’s Isaac Foutz in 1:58 to close the tournament.
More importantly, Posa said with a smile, this result tied him with his father, Javier, the La Cueva head coach who won three titles when he wrestled for Santa Fe High.
“I had to tie my dad, that’s the thing I’ve been looking forward to the most,” Mason said. “At dinner, when I was little, he’d be, like, ‘You’ll never be a three-time champ. I’m the champ of this family!’ But now I tied him and it’s a dream come true.”
La Cueva’s Jack Byers, won at 152 pounds, grinding out a 3-2 decision as the No. 2 seed in his final against No. 1 Joe Coon of Cleveland. Posa gave Byers (34-4) a kiss on the top of the head as the teammates celebrated after Byers’ victory.
Handy’s 11-1 major decision victory in his final was important since the margin of his win vaulted the Bears past Atrisco Heritage (151-150) for third place in the team standings.
The Jaguars had two state champions of their own, including junior Tatum Garcia (37-1), one of the best wrestlers in the metro area and the winner at 160 pounds, and senior Anastacio Martinez, the 3 seed at 127 who pinned No. 1 Anthony Lopez of Volcano Vista in 3 minutes, 52 seconds.
Eldorado senior Zay Flores was a very small boy (2009) the last time the Eagles had an individual state wrestling champion, Eagles football coach Charlie Dotson said.
Flores, the No. 5 seed at 107 pounds, ended a 15-year drought for Eldorado on Saturday, as his third-period escape was the difference for the fifth-seeded Flores in a 3-2 decision over No. 2 seed Urijah Garza of Volcano Vista.
Flores had upset the top seed in the semifinals earlier in the day.
“It didn’t even feel real,” Flores said. “I can’t even believe it.”
Cibola freshman Diego Torrez was outstanding all season, and the No. 2 seed at 121 pounds decisioned No. 1 Noah Gurule of Los Lunas 3-0 in the final.
“I don’t even know what to say,” said Torrez, who finished 35-2. “My goal right now is to be Cibola’s first four-time champion.”
Other bracket winners were Logan Talley of Los Lunas at 189, and Hobbs’ Cameron Hernandez, who was 35-1 this season at 172 pounds after his state title.
CLASS 4A-1A BOYS: What set 4A apart from the other two divisions on Saturday were a pair of five-time state champions.
Aztec senior Bryson Valdez (36-1) joined that rare five-time club first, winning at 121 pounds.
“It’s just surreal,” he said. He won all four of his matches this weekend by first-period pin.
“I wrote it on my water jug when I was an eighth-grader that I was gonna be a fivetime state champ,” said Valdez. “I wrote it, and once you write something, you have to believe it.”
Valdez was unbeaten against New Mexico competition; his lone defeat came at a tournament in Reno, Nevada.
Valdez was later joined by Cobre senior Niko Trujillo (35-1), the champion at 160 pounds, and the Indians’ fan base inside the Rio Rancho Events Center, one of the largest of any school on Saturday, let out a roar when he finished off his victory.
“I won’t forget this moment for the rest of my life,” Trujillo said, adding, “All that blood, those ruthless practices … I’ll do it 10 times again for this moment.”
Bloomfield scored 187 points, 15 more than Aztec. Defending state champion Belen (143) placed third.
Individually, St. Pius had a champion in Valentine Popadiuc (48-2), a sophomore who was the winner at 139 pounds. Junior Amiri Mumba of Highland won state at 172 pounds to end his 31-2 campaign. And Augustine Lopez of Belen claimed the title with four pins at 189 pounds. All three were No 1 seeds.
GIRLS: Cleveland scored 102.5 points in its triumph, with Atrisco Heritage (95) second and Farmington third.
There were three individual undefeated state champions among the 12 bracket winners Saturday night.
That included Sandia High super sophomore Jaden Meadows, who went unbeaten for the second consecutive season. Meadows (38-0) won all four of her matches this weekend by first period pin.
“(It was awesome) to come in and just kick everyone’s butt and be undefeated as a sophomore,” Meadows said. “To be dominant over everyone, that’s a good feeling to have.”
Lorianna Piestewa of Miyamura, one of the state’s best at any weight, finished 43-0 this season after her triumph at 114 pounds. And Jade Blackhart of Los Alamos, at 145 pounds, won her championship match by pin to close out a 36-0 season.
Emma Gutierrez of Manzano, a freshman, had four pins during his state title run at 107 pounds.
West Mesa junior Kayla Jose (37-1), the No. 1 seed, capped a tremendous season, winning the title at 126 pounds. Like Gutierrez, she had four pins this weekend.
“It was more of me being surprised that I actually did it,” a shy Jose said with a smile. “It was just, like, a bunch of emotions.”
State champ Cleveland had champions in Heaven Guevara at 132 pounds. Sandia had a second winner in eighth-grader Kassandra Arundale-Walton at 165 pounds.
Volcano Vista’s Chelsea Rivera was involved in the most dramatic of the girls finals; she ultimately prevailed in multiple overtimes as the No. 1 seed at 185 pounds.