Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
The Tucumcari boys wrestling team scored dual-meet victories Thursday over Class 5A school Volcano Vista and district foe Academy at Albuquerque.
“The boys did excellent, excellent, excellent,” Tucumcari coach Tim Clark said, lifting his hopes for the district tournament at Socorro on Feb. 10-11.
The Rattlers scored a 42-36 victory over Academy despite giving up four forfeits. Josh Pacheco (145 pounds), Aden Otero (152), Xzander Garcia (172) and Antonio Gonzales (189) piled up the points for Tucumcari with victories by pin.
Against non-district opponent Volcano Vista, Tucumcari prevailed 48-30.
Fernando Ureste (114 pounds), Dezmon Pacheco (127), Josiah Sanchez (139), Otero, Garcia, Creed Owen (160) and Gonzales each scored decisive victories for the Rattlers.
To hear Clark tell it, Volcano Vista’s coach was shocked how strongly the Rattlers competed.
“The kids took care of business,” Clark said. “I think he thought Tucumcari was going to be easy. Coach (Dennis) Garcia at one point overheard him say to his 114-pounder, who was wrestling Fernando, ‘Aw, go out there and play with him.’ Fernando went out there and pinned him.”
In girls action, Sarah Vallejo at 114 pounds scored a two victories by pin — one during an exhibition — against Vista and Academy opponents.
Clark said MiKayla Klinger at 145 pounds struggled during losses to Volcano Vista and Academy foes.
“This girl from Academy has been her archnemesis all year long,” he said. “MiKayla lost, but she lasted all three periods, and it was a hard-fought battle. I was proud of her. I’m trying to convince MiKayla she wrestled better, but it’s kind of hard. We’re just going to keep working on trying to beat her.”
Tucumcari took only those two girls to the Academy meet. Three stayed home after the death of THS freshman Jayden Gloms in a vehicle accident on Tuesday (see story in this edition).
“For the girls, it was harder,” Clark said. “Two of my girls are freshmen. It affected the freshman class a lot more than everybody else.
“Fernando and some of the freshman boys, they struggled through it, but they took care of business (at the meet). As a school, we’ll have to overcome it.”
The Rattlers on Thursday will go to Valley High School in Albuquerque and wrestle the host team and Del Norte in a district dual-meet matchup before the regional tournament.
The girls regional tournament is Friday and Saturday at Del Norte High School in Albuquerque.