Tigers dig in at District Duals
Taos finished second-to-last among the eight teams that competed in the District 2-4A Duals held in Moriarty on Saturday (Feb. 4).
The district duals format is tough for the Taos Tigers, as each team in the district fields, or attempts to field, a roster of 13 wrestlers, one for each weight class, and pits them against another school’s lineup. Taos had eight wrestlers to compete with,
and only St. Michael’s had fewer — with four available wrestlers. That meant five slots would end in a forfeit for Taos, or at best, a double forfeit, when they faced another school.
The duals format does present the Tigers with a chance to get a feel for the wrestlers that they will have to face at Regionals in Kirtland on Saturday (Feb. 10) in order to make it to the State 4-A Championships in Rio Rancho a week later (Feb. 17).
In that regard, Jerome Martinez, Damian Talavera and Nathan Fraley had a good practice run before Regionals.
In the seven-round format, Martinez lost his only match to West Las Vegas wrestler Juan Montano, who’s 14-3 this season. Martinez defeated Nicolas Rey (Los Alamos), Izaac Rivera Palma (Española), Erik Hansen (Pojoaque Valley) and Amare Gonzalez (Moriarty).
Talavera lost to Jeremiah Ortega (West Las Vegas) and Juanito Mondragon (Española), but won three of his matches against Kherington Chavez (Moriarty), Cooper Beavers (Los Alamos) and Robert Jackson (Robertson).
Fraley was defeated in the first round to the 27-7 Los Alamos Hilltopper Jackson Blair. That match almost went the distance as it was decided in the third period when Blair got the pin on Fraley at the 5:13 mark after scoring points on a reversal. After that first round, Fraley went undefeated against the competition.