One match postponed, but Rangely still gets 10 duals

RANGELY I They didn’t have as many matches as they originally anticipated, due to a postponement.
But Rangely’s wrestlers still got in plenty of action last week, which is the focus this early in the season.
“All in all, we did all right. We got 10 duals in,” said coach Jeff LeBleu. “That’s what we need. We wanted to wrestle, just to get some mat time in.”
Last Thursday’s scheduled home match against Grand Valley was postponed because of weather.
“They got 16 inches of snow, so they didn’t go to school for a couple of days,” LeBleu said. “We’ll reschedule that for the end of January, or the first of February. We haven’t set a date yet, but it will definitely be rescheduled.”
Despite the postponement, Rangely still competed in dual meets both Friday at Roosevelt, Utah, and Saturday at Mesa State in Grand Junction.
“We won it,” LeBleu said of the Roosevelt duals. “We had six undefeated wrestlers, and Devon (Rose) was named outstanding wrestler. He’s on a roll. No one is coming close to him. He’s just manhandling everybody right now.”
Besides Rose at 130 pounds, the other unbeaten Panther wrestlers at Roosevelt were JC Chumacero at 125, Cole Barlow at 140, Travis Witherell at 145, Mike Dillon at 215 and heavyweight Kindal Cushman.
Rangely was one of six teams that competed at the Roosevelt duals.
At Mesa State’s duals, Rangely went 3-2, beating Norwood, Holy Family and Kirtland, N.M., while losing to Montrose and Discovery Canyon.
“I think we took sixth, the best we could figure out,” LeBleu said. “We gave up 44 points every dual, because we had some injuries, sickness and a no-show.”
Maybe it was a sign of things to come when the team bus was forced to stop on Douglas Pass, on the way to Grand Junction, because of rocks in the road.
“Us three coaches got out of the bus and moved the boulders, so we could get through. That’s a nice 5 o’clock-in-the-morning job,” LeBleu said sarcastically.
Of the Mesa State duals, LeBleu said, “We were just kind of sluggish all day.”
As far as injuries, at 119 pounds, Chance Peters has a concussion and may not wrestle until after Christmas, LeBleu said, and Chumacero has bruised ribs and wasn’t scheduled to wrestle Tuesday at Fort Duchesne, Utah. He will be re-evaluated for this weekend’s Warrior Classic in Grand Junction.
Rangely’s first home match will be Jan. 15, followed the next day by the Panther Invitational.