RANGELY I The Rangely Panthers wrestled in the Steamboat Springs Round Robin tournament Saturday and returned with five placers, including one champion.
Rangely senior Lucas Heinle won all four of his matches in the 145-pound bracket and captured the gold medal. Caleb Lawson also won four matches but lost one and finished with a silver medal at 152.
Ethan Allred posted a record of 3-1 in the 160-pound bracket and earned himself a bronze medal for his efforts. Nych DeLeon (138) and Ryan Wilczek (195) both went 2-2 in their respective weight brackets, which was good enough for fourth place. Kiki Ruiz also wrestled in the 138-pound round robin and although he wrestled well, he did not place.
“We wrestled really well, winning a lot of matches, and the ones we lost were by small margins,” head coach Jeff Heinle said. “Ethan lost his match to Justin Barham 3-1 in overtime.”
The Panthers will travel to Ignacio for a dual meet on Friday, then Rangely will enter the Butch Melon Invitational, where they will compete with teams from Dolores, Dove Creek, Nucla and Ignacio, as well as others.
“This is a good tournament to go to and see some teams we usually don’t get a chance to meet,” coach Heinle said.