Rima, deKay rule at DC-hosted event
As long as Kyle Rima had been forced to wait (nearly two-and-a-half hours) before stepping onto a mat Thursday, Feb. 1, at the San Juan Basin League Championships, it seemed he didn’t want his vacated seat to cool.
And less than a minute after checking in at the scorer’s table, the Ignacio senior was headed back to the bleachers.
Victorious of course; in the heavyweight division’s only bout, Rima (25-7 overall) pinned Nucla freshman Jacob Davis in just 32 seconds to a) earn himself a SJBL title, and b) increase the Bobcats’ point total to 43 – putting IHS one ahead of Norwood in the battle for third place in the event’s final team standings.
Mancos – minus on-the-mend senior heavy Elliot Sam – accumulated a winning 99.5 points, and even without recovering senior 138-pounder JW Naslund, Nucla snagged second with 71. Meet-hosting Dove Creek totaled 36.5 and finished fifth, with Dolores (34) a close sixth after sophomore 132-pounder Nathan Hill concluded the night pinning IHS sophomore Dillon Brann.
Continuing his outstanding sophomore season, Ignacio’s Lincoln deKay (34-1) also departed The DawgHouse a SJBL champ after sticking DHS senior Zach Taylor 16 ticks into the second two-minute period and clinching the tourney’s lone 150-pound bout. An established talent at 113 pounds, sophomore ’Cat Aven Bourriague was present but did not compete while fighting off an infection and not wanting to aggravate it prior to the upcoming Class 2A-Region II Championships.
Sophomore Zane Pontine (30-9) finished second at 144 pounds after defeating DCHS senior Cody Alexander by 8-0 major decision, then pinning Norwood freshman Keegan Tackett in an elapsed 2:30 before losing the first-place bout to Mancos senior Levi Martin – claiming his 101st career victory – by 21-6 technical fall with 1:06 left in the third period.
IHS sophomore Joshua Kerrigan (14-21) also earned runner-up status; at 120 pounds he went 1-1 with a first-period pin of Nucla senior Nolan Cressler and a 3-1 loss to Dove Creek freshman Cael Beanland. Brann (10-27) ended up a sixth-place 0-5 within the most-contested division but lasted into the second period against Nucla senior Derrick VanDellen, the runner-up.
As previously mentioned, the Bobcats will next see action at regionals, Feb. 9-10 in Cedaredge, with the top four individuals at each weight advancing to the 2024 CHSAA State Championships (2/15-17) inside Ball Arena in Denver.
The Lady ’Cats, meanwhile, will travel to Grand Junction Central H.S. for the Girls’ Region III Championships – hosted by the Central-based District 51 Phoenix, the extended Grand Valley area’s (one wrestler even hails from Rangely) collective crew.
2024 SJBL CHAMPIONSHIPS WINNERS
106 – Jackson Dinsmore, Norwood; 113 – Jackson McCabe, Nucla; 120 – Cael Beanland, Dove Creek; 126 – Teagan Larimore (unopposed), Dove Creek; 132 – Quinton Martinez, Mancos; 138 – River Wickstrom (unopposed), Dolores; 144 – Levi Martin, Mancos; 150 – LINCOLN DEKAY, IGNACIO; 157 – Brandon Vannest, Mancos; 165 – Jacob Martin, Mancos; 175 – Paxtin Caruso (unopposed), Nucla; 190 – Cole Dainty-Guilfoyle, Mancos; 215 – Colten Vannest, Mancos; HWT – KYLE RIMA, IGNACIO.