Wrestlers finish second at regionals

Special to the Herald TimesMEEKER I Meeker middle school wrestlers traveled to Mesa State College last weekend to participate in the Colorado middle school regional wrestling tournament. Thirty-two middle schools from the western slope participated in the tournament. The top eight in each weight qualified for the state tournament.Meeker qualified 14 wrestlers for the state tournament.“It is good that we were able to compete against some of the bigger middle schools from around the region,” head coach Lee Overton said. “Finishing second as a team is a nice reward for the kids.”Tristin Pelloni continued to wrestle well but lost his final match to finish second. Robby Jensen had a “great” tournament and also finished second.Austin Purcell, T.J. Shelton, Anthony Watt, Jake Phelan and Devon Pontine all finished third. “We had five kids finish in third place, which says a lot about character. It is always hard to come back after a loss and win the consolation bracket.” said assistant coach J.C. Watt.Noah Overton and Austin Bradford both finished fourth.Cole Purcell, Cody Purcell, Dillon Frantz, Tyler Pollock and Tyler Ilgen wrested their way into the top eight and qualified for the state tournament.Competing but finishing outside the top eight were Josh Cochran, Kylloe Goedert, Chase Rule, Jacob Henderson, Matt Frantz, Jake Nielsen, Caleb Bradford and Ruben Roybal.