Tiger wrestling

The Taos Tigers boys and girls wrestling teams traveled to

Pojoaque last week for a two-day scramble tournament held in honor of longtime Pojoaque teacher Benito V. Martinez, with the Taos boys placing eleventh overall and the girls taking NEED GIRLS RESULTS.

Held Friday (Jan. 27) and Saturday (Jan. 28), the tournament was the first of its kind for the Pojoaque

Elks. The format made it so that some schools, such as Española and Moriarty, would have their athletes facing off against wrestlers of the same school.

Damian Talavera, Jerome Martinez and Nathan Fraley led the way for the Tigers by placing within the top five of their respective weight classes.

Talavera earned a third-place

finish in the 107-category, registering 2 pins in 3:44 of mat time. He defeated Coopers Beavers in the first period on Friday and defeated Beavers a second time on Saturday, winning by decision 11-5. Talavera pinned Michael Fichtel of Los Alamos in the second period to take home third place.

Martinez needed only 14 seconds to pin his first opponent, Juanito Perea of Bernalillo. In the second round, Martinez needed only 20 seconds to pin Nicolas Rey of Los Alamos.

Izaac Rivera Palma of Española fared a little better than the previous opponents, losing to Martinez by pin in 37 seconds.

Manuel Jimenez of Santa Fe provided more resistance in the semi-finals, losing to Martinez in the second period by pin. The 26-0 Miguel Andrade of Los Lunas kept his undefeated record intact when he defeated Martinez in the championship round.

Martinez earned a second place finish in the 215-lb bracket, registering 4 pins in 3:29 of mat time.

Fraley lost early in the first

Fidel Madrid, left, tries to avoid a pin on Friday (Jan. 27).

round on Saturday to Alan Padilla of Pojoaque Valley but returned the favor later on in the fifth place match where Fraley pinned Padilla in the first period. Fraley earned a fifth place finish in the 160-lb bracket registering 3 pins in 3:17 of mat time.

BOYS TEAM OVERALL

1. Los Lunas: 99pts

2. Moriarty: 63.5pts

3. Artesia: 45pts

4. Los Alamos: 42pts

Eighth-grader Nicole Tafoya earned a third-place finish in the 126-lb bracket of the girls invite.

Results

As a team, the Tigers placed 11th overall with 28 points. Among teams that had eight wrestlers or fewer, Taos placed second behind the Santa Fe Demons. As a team, the Tigers totaled 13 pins in 15:07 of mat time.

GIRLS TEAM OVERALL

1. Moriarty: 127 pts

2. Los Alamos: 124 pts

3. Carlsbad: 64pts

4. Pojoaque Valley: 43pts

JEANS PINEDA/Taos News The referee counts points for Adam Szilagyi as he’s got Fidel Madrid on his back.

JEANS PINEDA/Taos News Diego Loera is lifted high off the ground by Los Lunas’ Josiah Baca.

Nicole Tafoya walks off the mat as Myranda Pena is declared the winner.

Nicolas Rey, left, and Jerome Martinez square up on Friday (Jan. 27).

JEANS PINEDA/Taos News Jerome Martinez, right, defeated Nicolas Rey in 20 seconds.