Three THS wrestlers win district titles

Three Tucumcari wrestlers were crowned as district champions as the Rattlers finished second at the District 6 boys dual meet Saturday at Ruidoso.

Fernando Ureste (wrestling in the 133-pound weight class), Antonio Gonzales (172 pounds) and Benny Garcia (189 pounds) were Tucumcari's individual district champions. They won all five of their bouts by pin or forfeit.

Tucumcari coach Tim Clark said the titles by Ureste and Gonzales weren't unexpected, but Garcia was a different matter.

"Benny surprised me," Clark said. "Benny's a good kid, and I'm glad to see him have some success."

Valley won the team title during the round-robin event, avenging its narrow district-crown loss to Tucumcari last year. Ruidoso finished third at the six-team event.

Tucumcari won its first district team title in more than 30 years in 2023. Valley's coach, disbelieving the outcome, held on to the district championship trophy for a few days until the New Mexico Activities Association confirmed Tucumcari's title.

On Saturday, Tucumcari defeated Ruidoso 48-30, blasted Bernalillo 60-16, edged Academy 36-27 and downed Del Norte 42-30.

The Rattlers' only loss was to Valley by a 54-24 score. Valley won all five of its dual matches, and Tucumcari's was its closest margin.

Clark said his team lost 18 points in each match due to forfeits, so repeating as district champion would have been a tall order.

"It's hard to overcome that," he said. "Our kids had to have been on fire to repeat as champion."

Clark also said his 145-pound wrestler, Josh Pacheco, was sick Saturday. He continued to wrestle, but he clearly wasn't at his best, including vomiting in the middle of a bout.

Clark said another wrestler, 107-pounder JT Turpin, didn't make the meet due to a family emergency.

"You couldn't ask more from the kids than we got," he said.

Also competing for Tucumcari were Julian Brown (107 pounds), Zion Martinez (114), Julius Salas (139), Maliki Alderete (152), Justin Goes (160), Isaiah Ureste (215) and Jesus Gardea (285).

THS' girls wrestlers will go to the Region 2 meet at Cobre this weekend that will decide who gets to advance to the state tournament. The top eight finishers in each weight class will qualify for state.

The boys Region 2 meet will be Feb. 16-17 at Belen. The top eight finishers in each weight class also will qualify for state.

The state championships will be Feb. 23-24 at the Rio Rancho Events Center in Rio Rancho.