LOCAL 12-31-21 Wrestlers back from Reno-Rio HondoWrestlers grab four firsts at Rio Hondo InviteBy Don EskinsCarlsbad wrestlers competed in Roswell High's 'Rio Hondo Invitational' on Saturday, Dec. 18. According to assistant head coach Mark Pratt CHS' grapplers had a pretty good day."Considering half of our varsity boys team was in Reno I feel like our kids did pretty good," said Pratt. "Out of eighteen teams competing the Cavemen placed seventh, Cavegirls fourth and our boys junior varsitythird."Carlsbad saw four of it's wrestlers grab tournament titles. They were: Caveman Alex West-120 lbs. 4-0, Cavegirl Rosalia Rubio-107 lbs. 4-0 and junior varsity team members Jeremiah West-126 lbs. 4-0 and Hunter Hawkins-132 lbs. 4-0."Alex wrestled really well at the meet. He's always been a good wrestler. But he put on some muscle this summer and he's quite a bit stronger than he was last year," said the CHS coach. "Rosalia had a great meet also. She's turned a couple of corners this season. She's more aggressive and improving every day.""Hunter and Alex, who is just an eighth grader, wrestled very well in the junior varsity bracket," said Pratt. "We're looking for big things from them this year and down the road."Dunn top Caveman performer at RenoCarlsbad High's wrestling excursion to Reno, Nevada, (Dec. 16-17-18) turned out to be anything but ordinary for the Cavemen. Overall, it appeared to be a trip piloted by Murphy's Law. "Our kids had been excited all year about the prospects of wrestling in Reno, it's one of the top high school tournaments in the nation," said Caveman head coach Joe Bach. "But things began going awry for us from the get-go.""First our flight was delayed on Thursday evening so we didn't arrive at our hotel in Reno until about midnight, the day before the meet began. To make matters worse our weight scale had been broken on the trip, so we had no way of knowing exactly what our kids weighed," he said. "Although we were able to round one up at our hotel we had no way of knowing how accurate it might be.”
“After settling in their rooms, the kids were able to get just two or three hours of sleep before we had to get them up to start getting ready for the tournament,” said the coach. “Some of them, as they got up, had to start cutting weight even though we weren’t able to tell for sure just how much. Needless to say, this year's start in the Reno Invitational was a difficult one."Despite all the problems encountered by the Cavemen, Bach said he was pleased with the overall effort his kids displayed at the tournament. Only five CHS wrestlers competed at the event.Dallas Dunn turned in Carlsbad High's top performance at the meet. At 120 lbs. he finished the tournament at 5-2. He was followed by Matt Najera-138 lbs. 4-2, Logan Romero-126 lbs. 3-2, Marcus Najera-106 lbs. 3-2 and Jesse Rodriguez-160 lbs. 2-2. Carlsbad's entrant at 182 lbs., Jake Fuentes, was unable to make the trip.Wrestlers at Amarillo InvitationalBoth the Cavemen and Cavegirlwrestling teams are competing in Amarillo today (Friday, Dec. 31). The two day tournament got underway on Thursday."It should prove to be a very competitive tournament this year," said coach Bach. "They've increased the number of teams competing this year from sixteen to thirty-two.”“Amarillo is in the panhandle, so along with schools from New Mexico and Texas, we could see some pretty good teams from Oklahoma and Kansas there also," added assistant coach Pratt.On Jan. 7 & 8, in Rio Rancho, the Cavemen and Cavegirls will compete in the 'Cleveland High School Invitational