Wrestlers take home medals

RIO RANCHO – Four Tucumcari wrestlers took home medals during Thursday's Class 3A state championships at the Rio Rancho Events Center, including the highest-finishing Rattler who appeared to be a surprise on paper.

Isiah Garcia, a freshman in the 113-pound weight class, was the only Tucumcari wrestler to advance to the state finals despite sporting an unimpressive-looking 2-6 record before Thursday.

Garcia wrestled much of the condensed season at a higher weight class. Once he slimmed to 113 late in the season, he blossomed.

"I tried to get him down to 113 for district, and when he did, it paid off," Tucumcari coach Eddie Encinias said. "He could feel it, too."

Garcia scored a solid 6-0 victory in the semifinals against Isaiah Ocampo (10-4) of Socorro.

Garcia's run came to an end in the finals, when West Las Vegas' Cruz Martinez pinned him 5 minutes, 22 seconds into the match. Martinez led 9-2 before ending it.

"He's a really strong kid, knows how to work the arms and the tilts," Garcia said of Martinez. "I was trying to be a little bit more offensive, but it didn't go as planned.

"We'll be back next year," he added.

One of Tucumcari's highest hopes for a state title, 220-pound senior Dyson Clark, ran into trouble when he faced St. Michael's Santiago Martinez for a second time in at little more than week. Martinez, a state champion the previous year in the heavyweight division, was surprised by Clark during the district open meet.

This time, it was Clark who experienced an unwelcome surprise during his semifinal match. Martinez pinned him 2:41 into the bout.

"I suffered some injuries during the match," Clark said, who finished 9-1 overall. "I tore up my shoulder pretty bad."

"Wrestling can be a one-move deal," Encinias said of the loss. "If you get caught, it's all over. You can have all the strategy in the world and be up by 11 points and get beat."

Clark rallied in the third-place match to defeat David Gutierrez of Socorro with a pin 2:16 into the match despite the sore shoulder.

"It hurt; it really did," Clark said. "But I had so much adrenalin going through my body, sometimes you just forget about it. I just pushed through and set my sights on the bigger goal.

"I came back and left no regrets on the mat. I'm happy to say I wrestled for Tucumcari High School."

"I'm glad he came back the way he did because he needed to go out with a medal," Encinias said.

Tucumcari junior Charles Prieto, wrestling at 132, lost a 7-4 semifinals decision to Socorro's Brian Armijo that could have gone either way.

"I really thought Charles would win it, but things happen," Encinias said.

In the third-place match, Prieto pinned Robertson's Eduardo Mello in 1:24 to secure his medal.

At 182 pounds, Tucumcari sophomore Xzander Garcia fell by pin 43 seconds into the semifinal match to Cobre's Alex Holguin.

In the third-place match, Garcia rallied from behind to score a 6-5 decision over Robertson's Francisco Venegas.

Encinias said his insistence on good conditioning for his wrestlers led to the victory.

"He wore him out and got him," he said of the Venegas match. "My guys are in great shape. If they get into the third period, we're going to win 90% of the time."

Encinias acknowledged being initially dismayed by losses in the semifinals but was buoyed by his wrestlers' strong performances in the third-place matches.

"They didn't give up," he said. "They came back against guys who've beaten them before and wound up placing third. These guys are a bunch of great opportunists."

On Saturday, two Tucumcari girl wrestlers competed at the state tournament. The Lady Rattlers had a tougher path, as girls wrestling is not divided by enrollment classification. Wrestlers from the smallest schools likely would grapple with athletes from the largest programs in New Mexico.

Freshman Sarah Vallejo, wrestling at 120 pounds, lost her opening bout to West Mesa's Bianca Retana by fall 1:20 into the match, then fell to Miyamura's Tariel Espinoza 3:52 into the consolation round.

Eighth-grader Mikayla Klinger, wrestling at 182 pounds for Tucumcari, lost her opening bout to Mayfield's Franki Buenrostre by fall 3:30 into the match, then fell to Rio Rancho's Marisa Cerrillo 18 seconds into the consolation round.

"I would talk to them before each of their matches to remind them to be in control right away. They applied the advice I gave them and attempted to do that before they got beat," said volunteer assistant coach Aleaya Lucero, who was Tucumcari's first-ever medalist in girls wrestling two years ago.

"I'm excited to see where they're going because they're so young. I think Tucumcari girls wrestling in the future looks really strong," Lucero added.