MEEKER I After qualifying 10 wrestlers and placing third as a team in the 2014 Colorado State Wrestling Championships, the Meeker Cowboys will begin their quest to improve this season, starting in Grand Junction, when they compete in the Colorado Mesa University Duals.
The Cowboys return six wrestlers with state experience, including two-time defending state champion T.J. Shelton and state runners-up Tristin Pelloni and Devon Pontine.
Sheridan Harvey, Kylloe Goedert and Tyler Ilgen also won matches at state last year and return for another shot at placing.
Meeker will be led by seniors Pelloni, Goedert and Anthony Watt.
“All are four-year wrestlers and they all should be competitive at the state level,” Watt said of this year’s seniors on the team.
Coach Watt is a little concerned with the conditioning of the football players, who advanced to the semifinals in the state playoffs and will wrestle with only a few days of practice.
“Conditioning is an issue for the football players, since they have not been in the room long enough,” Watt said.
Although the lineup was not determined by press time, the varsity wrestlers will compete in five duals at CMU and the JV wrestlers will wrestle in a junior varsity tournament in Olathe.
Willy Theos and Carl Padilla will assist coach Watt with the coaching duties this season.
“We should be very competitive this season, and, if we continue to improve, I think we can finish better than we did last year at the state tournament,” Watt said.
