Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Two Tucumcari wrestlers finished runner-up and two placed third Saturday at the Al Salazar Invitational at St. Michael’s High School in Santa Fe.
Josh Pacheco, wrestling at 145 pounds, and Xzander Garcia, at 172 pounds, finished second in their respective weight classes at the tourney.
Antonio Gonzales (189 pounds) and Dezmon Pacheco (133 pounds) each finished third for the Rattlers.
Tucumcari coach Tim Clark said he hopes his team will compete even better after several athletes recover from illness — presumably the flu — that swept through school in the last two weeks.
“Hopefully we overcome that and the kids can build themselves up,” he said.
Clark anticipates that Garcia, a defending state champion, will be wrestling at a lower weight class after Christmas once he finishes the safe-weight-loss protocol.
“After the first of the year during the second part of the season, he’ll be at 160 and be wrestling at regionals and state at that weight class,” Clark said. “It will give him a lot more power. He’ll be stronger at that weight class.”
He said Garcia’s move would enable Gonzales to drop a weight class to 172 pounds.
“He’s already at 172 pounds, but he’s wrestling up a weight class,” Clark said. “He’s giving up 16, 17 pounds.”
Boys Ranch meet
The Tucumcari boys went 2-1 during a round-robin dual-meet format Dec. 6 at Boys Ranch, Texas, against other Panhandle teams.
The Rattlers defeated Boys Ranch and Pampa and suffered a mere three-point loss to Amarillo High — despite Tucumcari forfeiting three weight classes — during the meet.
Fernando Ureste (114 pounds) won all three of his bouts for Tucumcari to improve to 8-0 overall, and Garcia won two of three.
“It went really well,” Clark said of the meet. “We looked excellent, excellent, excellent. The kids had fun. I couldn’t be any prouder of those guys.”
In dual meets, Tucumcari improved to 5-3.
Rattler Invite
A total of 16 boys teams — nearly half from Texas — are scheduled to appear Saturday for the annual Rattler Invitational tournament at Tucumcari High School’s Snake Pit.
Action begins at 9 a.m., with championships scheduled in the afternoon. Teams include Tascosa, Clovis, Palo Duro, Amarillo, Caprock, Bushland, Pecos, St. Michael’s, West Plains, West Las Vegas, Robertson, Los Lunas and Valencia.
“It’ll be a really tough tournament,” Clark said.
Tucumcari also will host a Lady Rattler Invitational for girl wrestlers on Friday. Clark said five teams are scheduled to compete. Wrestling begins at 3 p.m.