Luck be a lady

Legacy’s Brennon Joiner saw the exhaustion set in for his opponent Thursday night at the first day of state wrestling at Ball Arena. It might as well have been a shot of adrenaline in the arm.

The 5A 132-pound junior got a reversal in the third period and a takedown in overtime for a sudden victory over Central Grand Junction’s Hassin Maynes, winning 4-2 in his first trip to state.

“I knew once we got into overtime, he was so tired. He couldn’t even stand up to get a nose plug in,” Joiner said. “I knew once I got him there, I had him in the match.”

Joiner, now 39-11 on the season, will face the bracket’s top seed in Ponderosa’s Jacob Myers Friday.

Skyline’s Mendez eyeing podium

This was the third time Skyline senior Calvin Mendez had been at the state wrestling tournament.

His first trip went a little better than his second, so he said he has something to prove.

Mendez’s quest to get back to the podium for the first time since his sophomore season got off to a strong start on Day 1, pinning Coronado’s Daniel Garcia late in the opening round.

Mendez finished fifth in 2021 before just missing the podium last season. Because of it, he said his goal over the next two days is simple.

“To be on the podium,” he grinned, “higher than fifth.”

Seven girls from Broomfield, Mead and Legacy punched their tickets to the state tournament this week, all wrestling in the one and only division.

Mead provided two jawdropping, quick performances from sophomore Ashley Booth (140 pounds) and senior Kirsten Davis (145 lbs.), securing victories in 55 and 44 seconds, respectively, to move on to the quarterfinals.

Broomfield junior Samantha White (130 lbs.) took her sweet time before pinning her opponent with one minute, 27 seconds to spare and senior Sydney Wu (135 lbs.) gritted out a 3-2 win.

Legacy senior Cassandra Mehia (235 lbs.) took her match all the way down to the wire, needing several overtime periods before falling to Olathe’s Lynessia Duran in a 3-1 tiebreaker.

Blessed performances

Holy

Family’s

boys earned three bids to the Class 3A quarterfinals, all of whom asserted themselves early. They didn’t want to wait six minutes for the ref to raise their hands.

Junior Lorenzo Avila needed just 37 seconds to get the job done, and junior Brayden Bach dominated his opponent through a 16-1 technical fall, which ended midway through the third period. Junior Abram Moore completed the triple threat with a pin 12 seconds before the end of the first period.

Roar like a lion

With a record hardly blemished by just two losses, there was little doubt that Lyons junior Jaden Gardner would advance past the first day. He took his time, however, before dropping North Fork’s Ian Wallace with four seconds left in the second period.