Crawford takes second place at Kremmling

MEEKER I Six Cowboy wrestlers competed in the annual West Grand Invitational in Kremmling last Saturday and four returned with medals, including a silver for JR Crawford.
Crawford, a junior, won three matches and finished as a runner-up in the 189-pound bracket. Freshman Kelly Denny won the consolation championship at 103, while classmate J.C. Henderson finished fourth at 112. Junior Collin Cochran also finished fourth in the heavyweight division.
“We keep improving each week, the kids are getting more aggressive and that’s what we’ve been working on,” head coach Joe Gutierrez said. “They are looking hungry.”
Freshman Aaron Cochran and junior Justin Hardy were both one match away from placing.
“They combined the 160 and 171-pound brackets, which included five state placers,” Gutierrez said of the bracket Hardy competed in. “The outstanding wrestler came out of that bracket, so Justin has nothing to be ashamed of.”
The Cowboys will not compete again until 2011 but Gutierrez hopes they continue to work hard over the Christmas break.
“We come back and jump in at the Tournament of Champions and that is no place to be caught slacking,” Gutierrez said. “It’s a fun tournament the way they run it.”
Meeker will host Coal Ridge Thursday, Jan. 6, at 6 p.m., before wrestling in the two-day Tournament of Champions in Vernal.
“Hopefully, we get a few more of our wrestlers back after the first of the year,” Gutierrez said of freshman Willis Begaye, sophomore Logan Piper and juniors Ean Barrow and Ethan Overton.