State Wrestling

Cedric Culhane, Staff Writer|March 3, 2017

State Wrestling

Last weekend from the 16th to the 18th of February marked the 2017 State Wrestling tournament; The Rocky Mountain wrestling team performed very well at the event.

The story of the state tournament started the weekend before at the Regional tournament; Rocky mountain qualified nine of fourteen varsity wrestlers.

Of those nine who qualified, Rocky placed three wrestlers at State, two seniors, Evan Shell and Matt McGuire, both who took sixth place in the tournament, and Junior Josh Betts was a runner-up. Evan Shell, the first senior wrestler who placed at the 106-pound weight class, worked very hard to get to his State tournament place.

He worked with JJ Krutsinger, a Rocky Mountain assistant coach who wrestled at the University of Iowa.Evan spent a large amount of time over the summer and during the season improving his technique.Evan spoke about how this time helped him during the season saying,”I owe my season to JJ, he was the one that made my skills crisp and clean by the time state rolled around.”

Shell also cut 12 pounds to get to the 106-weight class, showing the mental fortitude that gave him an edge in the State Tournament.  

Rocky’s second senior State placer at 160 pounds, Matt McGuire, is described  by head coach Taylor to be, “the most talented wrestler on the team.”

Matt found a new fire during the late season winning many matches in the third period. Matt utilizes an effective method of controlling and opponent on the mat called “throwing in legs” in which a wrestler uses their legs to keep the opponent’s hips pinned to the mat.

Matt used his exceptional stand-up technique and leg riding to upset several opponents, including the Poudre High 160-pound wrestler to whom Matt lost to earlier in the year.

The highlight of the tournament for Rocky was the runner-up Josh Betts who utilized his funky style to defeat every opponent until the state finals match.

The whole Rocky team has had a great season and this is displayed the most by the three placers, but the outstanding effort was shown by the whole team.