Conflict at Cleveland? Not for the Storm wrestling programs

RIO RANCHO – It’s not like any of these elite wrestlers needed extra gassing up, per se, but they got it anyway on Saturday.

A good number of Class 5A’s top prep wrestlers earned individual championships on Saturday afternoon at the massive Conflict at Cleveland at the Rio Rancho Events Center. If nothing else, these victories, at the state’s biggest and most prestigious regular-season event (70-plus schools from five states), served to further cement their status as favorites when the state tournament arrives at this same venue next month.

Among the boys who won their brackets at the two-day meet were Mason Posa of La Cueva, Lorenzo Gallegos of Volcano Vista and Roman Luttrell of Cleveland. On the girls side, notable was the season debut of multiple state champion Jaden Meadows of Sandia, who won her bracket as well.

Cleveland’s boys, with 260.5 points, won their home event. Pueblo East (238) and Volcano Vista (234) rounded out the top three.

“We’re proud of ourselves, but we keep moving forward to the biggest goals, and that’s getting a team state title at the end of the year. That’s what we’re working for,” said Luttrell, the CatC champion at 121 pounds. The junior is already a three-time state champion.

And he, like many of his Storm teammates, have either been ill or injured in the days leading up to this tournament.

“I was in the ER two days ago with the flu,” Luttrell said. “The sickest I’ve ever been in my life. I really didn’t know if I was gonna wrestle. I think I’m still a little bit sick, so I’m proud of myself for coming out here and getting it done.”

Cleveland also had a champion in junior heavyweight Riley Haussler, who edged the No. 1 seed, David Gutierrez of Socorro, 4-3, in the title match.

It will be interesting to see if Haussler runs into La Cueva’s Posa at state next month. Although Posa, who this season is chasing a fourth individual state title, won Saturday at 215 pounds, he has been toying with the idea of wrestling heavyweight at the state tournament.

Posa rolled this weekend, with pins in all six of his matches.

“I might fluctuate (between weights),” Posa said. He is 22-0 this season. “I wrestled (former La Cueva teammate) Mark Handy all the time, so I’m kind of used to (wrestling heavyweight).”

And like many of the top metro wrestlers, the Conflict at Cleveland had been circled on Posa’s calendar.

“We want some competition. We want some out of state kids to come in and try to beat us,” Posa said. “It’s a big tournament, we all look forward to it the entire winter break.”

Defending 5A state champion Volcano Vista had two winners Saturday in senior Elijah Sierra (26-2) who captured the 127-pound bracket and upset No. 1 Diego Torrez of Cibola along the way in the quarterfinals.

The Hawks’ top wrestler, junior Lorenzo Gallegos, stepped up in weight class and won it all at 152. He was at 139 pounds when the Hawks traveled to the Reno (Nevada) Tournament of Champions last month, where he didn’t place.

“Oh man, I was so excited. All week, I was literally just thinking, Conflict at Cleveland,” Gallegos said. He, like Posa and Luttrell, is a multiple state champion. “This is one of the ones I’ve been waiting for.”

He was second last year and third the year before that at this tournament, Gallegos said.

Senior James Bachicha of Los Lunas lost to David Burchett of Falcon High (Colorado) on Thursday in a team dual match, but Bachicha, the 2 seed, got his revenge in the CatC finals, winning 10-4 in the 160-pound championship match on Saturday.

“It’s a blessing to go against people from out of state, give us an idea of where we are,” Bachicha said. “It’s rewarding to see where you’re at against people from out of state.”

Other New Mexico champions were West Las Vegas’ unbeaten Andres Lopez at 107 pounds and Bloomfield’s Elias Johnson, who is 15-0 after his run through the 139-pound bracket this weekend.

Valentin Popadiuc, a St. Pius junior (145), and Tatum Garcia, a senior at Atrisco Heritage (172), lost in the finals.

GIRLS: Cleveland completed the team sweep, with 176 points. Pueblo Central (159.5) was runner-up; Atrisco Heritage (133.5) placed fourth.

There were five New Mexico state champions in the girls’ brackets, including Meadows, a junior, at 165, where she won all five of her matches by pin in the first period.

“It’s a pretty hard tournament for it to be your first when you haven’t wrestled all season,” Meadows said. She dislocated her right knee at last February’s state tournament (she won state on that bum knee), and had surgery several months later.

“I worked hard in the room to make sure that when I came out here, it wasn’t any different than past years.” said Meadows, who is possibly New Mexico’s best pound-for-pound girls wrestler.

From the metro area, Cleveland junior Eloise Woolsey was the No. 1 seed and the Conflict champion at 152 pounds (she had four pins and a technical fall), and Atrisco Heritage sophomore Sophia Rimbert, the 3 seed and 18-0 this season, took down the 126-pound bracket for the biggest tournament triumph of her career.

“It was a good tournament,” Rimbert said. “I was nervous at first, but I gained the confidence. … There’s stuff I have to work on. I’m not perfect yet.”

Deming junior Laura Almanza registered five pins en route to her victory at 138 pounds, and the heavyweight champion was 2 seed Caylee Miller, a freshman from Bloomfield.