News
Josh Donkle sat down Wednesday night and put life in perspective.
Dangling off the zipper of his Windsor wrestling warm-up jacket was a gold tag with the inscription “RIP, Luis Manuel Reyes Mon, 1994-2012.” in memory of the Wizards’ fallen classmate who was killed in a car crash last week.
With the memory of Reyes in the back of his mind, the Windsor 138-pounder focused on the matter at hand — Greeley West’s Elijah Griego and the non-conference match against the Class 5A Spartans.
It wasn’t until Sunday afternoon while on an eight-mile jog that Donkle was able to sort out his thoughts, which included a disappointing fourth-place finish at the Top Of The Rockies tournament — which included a 9-2 semifinal loss to Broomfield’s Phil Downing and 15-0 whupping he absorbed from Grand Island’s (Neb.) Andrew Riedy in the consolation finals.
“Tonight, I had a clear mind,” Donkle said after his pin of Griego in 1 minute, 54 seconds helped the Wizards to a 50-24 victory. “It sort of sounds selfish, but halfway through my run I realized I needed to focus on myself.
“I wasn’t happy with how I wrestled over the weekend, and I had a lot on my mind,” Donkle added. “I think a lot of our guys did.”
Windsor coach Monte Trusty sympathized with his squad, adding: “I didn’t know the student, but it sure hits home when you think of your own kids. We have wrestlers on the team who travel that same road. We talked about it a little bit. We’ll wear those tags the rest of the season.”
The Wizards’ road to success against the Class 5A Spartans was one often traveled by the Wizards this season — avoid having to wrestle from the bottom position and dominate from the neutral position.
“We’d rather be on our feet than on top,” Trusty said. “The pace is so slow on top, and we really don’t want to waste an entire period against somebody who is just going to clam up. You end up wasting an entire period trying to turn a guy.
“Now sure, if we take a guy down to his back, we’re going to go for it,” Trusty added.
The Wizards, ranked No. 1 in Class 4A, recorded five pins in the 11 matches wrestled, and added two major decisions to their total.
After a pin from Greeley West’s Austin Waterman (27-1) over Robert Bishop-Cotner off of a single-leg takedown, West sophomore Anthony Garza (24-6) parlayed two takedowns and a pair of escapes in the final two periods to beat Windsor’s Josh Villa 9-6 before Joel Salomon got the Wizards on the board with a 15-6 major decision over Dylan West at 113 pounds, putting on a takedown exhibition with seven.
“I was hoping I’d get a major decision or a pin,” Garza said. “I’m better than I wrestled tonight.”
Greeley West sophomore Adrian Delacruz (13-7) stated that he felt “in control” in his pin over Jacob Meismer, whose only point in the match was a first-period escape.
“I thought he (Meismer) would actually be a little tougher,” Delacruz said.
Delacruz’s pin, followed by a forfeit victory, put the Spartans ahead 21-4, but Windsor then put together five straight victories, including pins from 132-pounder Jacob Ring, Donkle, 152-pounder Troy Carroll and 160-pounder Vinny Gonzales.
In that span, the Wizards only wrestled from the bottom position twice and piled up 17 takedowns and a 32-21 team lead.
“We’ll take that challenge, and I think we did pretty well with it,” Greeley West coach Jim Martinez said of the Wizards daring opponents to win the battle from the neutral position.
“We’re just so young, but these freshmen and sophomores will really benefit from this.”
The Spartans’ lineup was littered with eight underclassmen.
“When we get beat, it’s usually against somebody who’s physically bigger than us,” Martinez said. “We’ll be in the other position before long.”
285 pounds — Austin Waterman, GW, pinned Robert Bishop-Cotner :45. 106 — Anthony Garza, GW, dec. Josh Villa 9-6. 113 — Joel Salomon, W, maj. dec. Dylan West 15-6. 120 — Adrian Delacruz, GW, pinned Jacob Meismer 3:32. 126 — Joel Huskerson, GW, won by forfeit. 132 — Jacob Ring, W, pinned Shane Ricks 5:33. 138 — Josh Donkle, W, pinned Elijah Griego 1:54. 145 — Kennen Lanteri, W, maj. dec. Logan Trezeciak 17-6. 152 — Troy Carroll, W, pinned Ernesto Plascencia 3:10. 160 — Vinny Gonzales, W, pinned Brisco Furney 2;42. 170 —Jesus Flores, GW, dec. Brandon Brauser 4-3. 182 — Cosme Martinez, W, won by forfeit. 195 — Zach Kaderka, W, won by forfeit. 220 — Jacob Winter, W, pinned Tyler Munson 1:36.
Dangling off the zipper of his Windsor wrestling warm-up jacket was a gold tag with the inscription “RIP, Luis Manuel Reyes Mon, 1994-2012.” in memory of the Wizards’ fallen classmate who was killed in a car crash last week.
With the memory of Reyes in the back of his mind, the Windsor 138-pounder focused on the matter at hand — Greeley West’s Elijah Griego and the non-conference match against the Class 5A Spartans.
It wasn’t until Sunday afternoon while on an eight-mile jog that Donkle was able to sort out his thoughts, which included a disappointing fourth-place finish at the Top Of The Rockies tournament — which included a 9-2 semifinal loss to Broomfield’s Phil Downing and 15-0 whupping he absorbed from Grand Island’s (Neb.) Andrew Riedy in the consolation finals.
“Tonight, I had a clear mind,” Donkle said after his pin of Griego in 1 minute, 54 seconds helped the Wizards to a 50-24 victory. “It sort of sounds selfish, but halfway through my run I realized I needed to focus on myself.
“I wasn’t happy with how I wrestled over the weekend, and I had a lot on my mind,” Donkle added. “I think a lot of our guys did.”
Windsor coach Monte Trusty sympathized with his squad, adding: “I didn’t know the student, but it sure hits home when you think of your own kids. We have wrestlers on the team who travel that same road. We talked about it a little bit. We’ll wear those tags the rest of the season.”
The Wizards’ road to success against the Class 5A Spartans was one often traveled by the Wizards this season — avoid having to wrestle from the bottom position and dominate from the neutral position.
“We’d rather be on our feet than on top,” Trusty said. “The pace is so slow on top, and we really don’t want to waste an entire period against somebody who is just going to clam up. You end up wasting an entire period trying to turn a guy.
“Now sure, if we take a guy down to his back, we’re going to go for it,” Trusty added.
The Wizards, ranked No. 1 in Class 4A, recorded five pins in the 11 matches wrestled, and added two major decisions to their total.
After a pin from Greeley West’s Austin Waterman (27-1) over Robert Bishop-Cotner off of a single-leg takedown, West sophomore Anthony Garza (24-6) parlayed two takedowns and a pair of escapes in the final two periods to beat Windsor’s Josh Villa 9-6 before Joel Salomon got the Wizards on the board with a 15-6 major decision over Dylan West at 113 pounds, putting on a takedown exhibition with seven.
“I was hoping I’d get a major decision or a pin,” Garza said. “I’m better than I wrestled tonight.”
Greeley West sophomore Adrian Delacruz (13-7) stated that he felt “in control” in his pin over Jacob Meismer, whose only point in the match was a first-period escape.
“I thought he (Meismer) would actually be a little tougher,” Delacruz said.
Delacruz’s pin, followed by a forfeit victory, put the Spartans ahead 21-4, but Windsor then put together five straight victories, including pins from 132-pounder Jacob Ring, Donkle, 152-pounder Troy Carroll and 160-pounder Vinny Gonzales.
In that span, the Wizards only wrestled from the bottom position twice and piled up 17 takedowns and a 32-21 team lead.
“We’ll take that challenge, and I think we did pretty well with it,” Greeley West coach Jim Martinez said of the Wizards daring opponents to win the battle from the neutral position.
“We’re just so young, but these freshmen and sophomores will really benefit from this.”
The Spartans’ lineup was littered with eight underclassmen.
“When we get beat, it’s usually against somebody who’s physically bigger than us,” Martinez said. “We’ll be in the other position before long.”
285 pounds — Austin Waterman, GW, pinned Robert Bishop-Cotner :45. 106 — Anthony Garza, GW, dec. Josh Villa 9-6. 113 — Joel Salomon, W, maj. dec. Dylan West 15-6. 120 — Adrian Delacruz, GW, pinned Jacob Meismer 3:32. 126 — Joel Huskerson, GW, won by forfeit. 132 — Jacob Ring, W, pinned Shane Ricks 5:33. 138 — Josh Donkle, W, pinned Elijah Griego 1:54. 145 — Kennen Lanteri, W, maj. dec. Logan Trezeciak 17-6. 152 — Troy Carroll, W, pinned Ernesto Plascencia 3:10. 160 — Vinny Gonzales, W, pinned Brisco Furney 2;42. 170 —Jesus Flores, GW, dec. Brandon Brauser 4-3. 182 — Cosme Martinez, W, won by forfeit. 195 — Zach Kaderka, W, won by forfeit. 220 — Jacob Winter, W, pinned Tyler Munson 1:36.
