Española Valley High School’s wrestling brought three competitors into the championship match for the first time in school history.
“I was very, very pleased with our performance today,” said coach Aaron Salinas. “Our boys wrestled really, really well.”
And though all three lost and took second place, none were able to become the first Sundevil state champion since 2010, they will be back next year. But five Sundevils placed, and the entire team (all eight of their wrestlers qualified for the tournament) fought hard and overperformed their seeded expectations.
“Didn’t finish the way we wanted it to,” Salinas said. “But these kids wrestled hard. They did way better than they did last year. Coming here with eight wrestlers, and placing five of them, that’s really cool.”
Landon Atencio, the No. 1 seed at 106 pounds, nearly took a pin early in the first period, falling down 5-0. But he scored a reversal and nearly got a pin of his own, Salinas said he thought it was a pin, in fact. And he scored another nearfall in the second period to take the lead.
But in the third period, Atencio’s eighth-grade opponent reversed him, and scored a pin with 35 seconds remaining to take the title.
Sophomore Cruz Sandoval had to face a junior with a 42-0 record who had pinned every wrestler in his path easily on the road to the final. Sandoval hung tough, but struggled to gain traction, falling behind 7-1 in the second period. But he lasted until well into the third period before taking a pin.
“That guy’s fast, strong, technical,” Sandoval said. “He took state last year, undefeated this year. He’s a good opponent. You’ve got nothing to lose, really. He’s the one that has stuff to lose.”
And the third finalist, junior Kyle Coffeen, struggled in the 152-pound final to establish position, though he stayed off his back, he ultimately lost 12-1 in points.
“It wasn’t the result I was looking for,” Coffeen said. “I was feeling really good, and I kept surprising myself left and right. I knew I deserved to be in the finals, though.”
Sundevil parents and fans showed out through the day, lending their support to the athletes and pushing them to succeed.
The entire performance was a major step forward for a Sundevil team just two years removed from having only a single placer and half of the team losing out in the first two matches.
“Over the last season to this season, we really developed a brotherhood,” said sophomore Noah Maez. “We’re a family.”
Atencio, a junior, advanced to the final with a 20-4 points victory in the first round, and first-period pins in the quarterfinal and semifinal.
Sandoval ranked as the second seed in 126 pounds after a 26-3 regular season. Sandoval’s quarterfinal match was a 9-4 decision, but wins before and after that were both first-period pins, including a seemingly easy win in the semifinal over the No. 3 seed.
“It’s a pretty big deal,” Sandoval said of taking second place. “Last year I got fourth place, so second is a big improvement. I’m just looking to take first in the coming years.”
Coffeen won his first three matchups via pin, including in the quarterfinal against Los Alamos’ Jackson Blair (his first pin in that matchup after three decision wins), though both of the top two seeds fell out in the earlier rounds. In his semifinal, his opponent appeared to hurt his arm between periods, and Coffeen managed to take advantage to swing the match with a pin.
Though he did not make the finals, Maez had one of the more impressive days at 138 pounds, having slimmed down from 152 last year where he failed to win a match at state, and taking a sixth-place finish.
“My goal was to take it,” Maez said. “But placing is just as good. Going two-and-out last season.”
Ranked as the No. 7 seed, he took just 36 seconds to win his first round match. In the quarterfinal, he lasted all six minutes against the eventual runner-up, losing in just a 6-1 decision. Then, in the consolation rounds, Maez had to fight through every minute.
In one match, he escaped at the very last second to force a tie, and stayed tied until a third overtime period, where he landed a late reversal to take the win. In the next round, facing the third seed, he had to battle. But late in the second period, his opponent appeared to slightly slip up, and Maez took advantage for a pin.
“I fought through a lot of feelings,” Maez said. “Triumph. Defeat. That’s what it is being a wrestler. There’s not really avoiding any defeat, no matter how good of a wrestler you are.”
Through both matches, he was pushed on by the support of teammates. Maez ultimately took sixth place after losing 6-0 and 5-2 decisions in ranking matches, but his overperformance was impressive for a sophomore still adjusting to the sport.
Junior Chiro Barrita, who had just an 11-13 record entering the tournament, started the day with a win over the No. 6 seed via pin, then lost to the eventual second-place finisher, sending him to the consolation bracket.
There, he won one match in just 18 seconds. And in the consolation third round, he held his opponent to a scoreless draw through two overtime periods before scoring an escape at the very end of the third extra period, reaching the placement matches. He lost two matches to strong opponents, but did enough to take a sixth-place finish at 113 pounds. Though in the fifth-place match, he may have had a pin if the first period was one second longer, but instead he fell in the third.
“That’s going to build their confidence,” Salinas said. “They’re going to realize that they can do it.”
Junior Attilio Winn was another Sundevil who overperformed not being seeded in the top eight. After losing in the first round, he scored a 14-6 decision to advance past the first consolation, then a pin. He fell just short of a placement, though, in the third consolation round when after taking a lead in the second period, he fell in the third.
Senior Jacob Martinez wrestled well at 220 pounds; he lost to the second seed in the first round, but recovered to upset No. 7 with a second-period pin. After taking a lead in the second period, though, he found himself at the bottom and pinned for elimination.
And senior heavyweight Adrian Padilla was somewhat a victim of poor luck; his higher-seeded first-round opponent secured a pin with eight seconds remaining, and he lost 4-2 in his first consolation match.
The Sundevils as a team finished in seventh place, a fantastic finish for a team of just eight wrestlers. A couple of slightly different results could have put them in the top five.
“We have a small team,” Salinas said. “A lot of these other teams, they have a lot of guys that wrestle. We’re going to get there, too. Right now, we have good wrestlers to work with.”
But a slightly different challenge will arise next year; with the compartment of state classifications, Española will now be in a district that also includes 3A teams like Robertson and West Las Vegas.
“We all know what we can do,” Sandoval said. “All we have left is to take first.”
Pojoaque Valley
The Pojoaque Valley wrestling team made major strides from last year, when just three wrestlers qualified for the tournament, and won a combined zero matches, pinned in every single competition. They doubled their number of competitors, and showed several big performances.
Four of the six wrestlers from Pojoaque captured wins at the tournament and threatened for placements. Freshman Alan Padilla, at 160 pounds, lost in the first round but won his second match with a pin in overtime. And he knocked out another opponent after falling behind 4-0 with a six-point third period. But he fell just short of placement rounds.
Freshman Erik Hansen lost to the eventual 195-pound champion in the first round, but recovered for a first-period pin in one consolation before falling in the second. And heavyweight Kenneth Arenas lost only to the third-place and fifth-place finishers, while notching two wins including over his Taos foe who had won the district title.
But it was 170-pound junior Adryan Triana who had the big day for the Elks with a third-place finish. After a first-round bye, Triana lost in the quarterfinal. Then, he won three more matches, including an upset of the No. 2 seed from Los Alamos. And in the third-place game, he bested the same wrestler who knocked him out earlier in the day. A nosebleed was the only thing that stopped him from securing a pin in the first period, and he stayed on top to take the win in the second period.
Pojoaque Valley also sent freshman Izabela Lujan to the state tournament as their lone girls competitor. In the girls 235-pound division, Lujan lost both of her matches, but was able to represent the Elkettes with pride.