San Juan matmen get strong performances in Moab and Price
by Art Adair
Contributing Writer
It was a packed week of wrestling for the San Juan High School grapplers. Tuesday, December 10 saw the Broncos at Grand County to take on the Red Devils.
The Broncos defeated the Red Devils by a score of 50 to 26. It was a thrilling dual that featured many exciting matchups and almost a full lineup by both teams.
Earning wins in the varsity dual were JD Palmer, Thomas Harden, Liam Lacy, Miken Keith, and Logan Keith all by fall. Grady Lacy beat his opponent by technical fall 25 to 10 and Cameron Adair won his exciting match by 11-10 decision.
Bronco wrestlers coming up short in their matches were Rigley LaGiglia, who faced off against Grand’s Austin Paris, Cian Mark, Jack Kartchner, and Trai Bass.
Receiving forfeits for the Broncos were Chad Yellow and Koyer Johnson. In the junior varsity matches Gavin Butler saw his first action of the year and Jack Kartchner got an extra match on the night. Both wrestlers lost to their Red Devil opponents.
On Wednesday, December 11 the Broncos opened their home dual season against the tough 4A Aztec, NM Tigers and the Dolores, CO Bears. The Broncos were defeated by the Aztecs 46 to 27.
Chad Yellow (120 lbs), Miken Keith (144), and JD Palmer (175) all won by fall. Porter Kieth (HWT) won by decision 4-2, and Grady Lacy (132) received a forfeit.
Liam Lacy (106), Jack Kartchner (113), Koyer Johnson (126), Staley Dandy (138), Logan Keith (157), and Rigley La Giglia (165) were all defeated by fall.
Cameron Adair (150) lost by decision 12-7, Thomas Harden (190) lost by major decision 9-1 and Trai Bass (215) lost by decision 3-2.
In the JV matches, Ryus Blackhorse (144), Hunter Keith (150), Pierce Holliday (190), and El’Myron Begay (190) all won by fall. Zacharias Long (165) was defeated by fall.
Against Dolores, the Broncos won 18 to 6 with only four varsity matchups wrestled. Grady Lacy (126), Taren Bayles (150), and Jayce Raisor (157) all won by fall.
Freshman Gauge Palmer (215) gave a valiant effort but was defeated by fall. On the JV side Krush Wallis (144), Kai Fox (157), and Stan Jones at heavyweight, we’re all defeated by fall.
Friday and Saturday, December 20-21 the San Juan grapplers headed to the Dave Smith Memorial Duals in Price, UT.
The Broncos went in shorthanded as varsity starters JD Palmer, Chad Yellow, and Grady Lacy were selected to wrestle in the Beehive 25 Tournament December 27-28 and had to miss a tournament to be eligible to participate.
They were also without the services of their varsity heavyweight Porter Kieth as he is nursing an injury. Junior varsity wrestlers filled three of the four slots for the Broncos as they went into the tournament.
The Broncos couldn’t field a 120-pounder and had to forfeit to each team in the duals. In total, San Juan wrestled nine duals, going 7-2.
At the end of Saturday’s duals, the Broncos ended up in third place with wins coming over American Leadership Academy, Carbon A, Dolores, Emery, Juan Diego Catholic, JV Extras, and Carbon B. The shorthanded Bronco crew lost to Maple Mountain 45-36 and Monticello 43-35.
The Broncos ended up with four individual champions at the tournament. Liam Lacy went 8-1 at 106 pounds, Miken Keith went 8-1 at 138 pounds, Cameron Adair was 9-0 at 150 pounds, and Logan Keith went 8-1 at 157 pounds.
Other varsity wrestlers included Jack Kartchner who went 3-6 on the weekend, followed by Koyer Johnson at 7-1, Staley Dandy 6-3, Ryus Blackhorse 3-4, Rigley La Giglia 8-1, Zach Long 2-7, Thomas Harden 6-3, Trai Bass 6-3, and Cian Mark going 1-7.
Extra Bronco wrestlers were placed on other teams to compete throughout the tournament. Jayce Raisor, El’Myron Begay, Teyano Tahy, and Wyatt Keith won matches for their respective teams.
Hunter Keith and Taren Bayles only lost one match respectively, while Chance Laws went undefeated.
The Broncos got an early start to this week when they hosted Monument Valley, AZ in a boys and girls dual that occurred too late for the San Juan Record press deadline.