Six Wrestlers in All Compete at Pepsi Center

DENVER – It was the end of the road for the Norwood High School wrestling season last weekend, as six wrestlers competed in the State tournament at Denver’s Pepsi Center, Feb. 19-20. After three grueling days of hard wrestling, two Mavericks placed in the top six of their respective weight classes; the other four wrestlers did not place at the event.

Sophomore Brent Harris took fourth in his 145-pound weight class and freshman Ty LaFramboise placed sixth among 189-pound wrestlers. The four other competing wrestlers from Norwood were Ethan Alexander at 171 pounds, Seth Gabardi at 135 pounds, Jaron Ragsdale at 215 pounds, and Weston Rasmussen at 130 pounds.

The highest place finisher for the Mavericks, Harris battled back through six matches after losing his first round match. He pinned Ethan Pearson of Ignacio and recorded a decision of 2-1 over Dustin Braslin of Paonia. He also beat Dale Deen Quintana of Centennial, 7-6, and Chase Hill of West Grand, 7-5, in overtime. Harris was unable to beat Fowler’s Donnie White in round one, but still walked away from the tournament with a fourth place finish.

After wrestling six matches over the course of the tournament, LaFramboise pinned Chase Beek of Cheyenne Wells in a time of 5:22 but lost his next round match to Wiggins’ Tyler Davis. He proceeded to win his next two matches, but then lost to Garret Smith of Eads, putting him in contention for the fifth place medal. He then fell to opponent Adam Montoya of Fowler, finishing in sixth place.

Alexander lost to Larry Fritzler of Baca County by a score of 12-3, then defeated Alejandro Torres of Centennial, 11-9. His season unfortunately came to an end after losing to Tyson Mitchek of Cheyenne Wells by a score of 13-4.

Gabardi fell to Wray’s Omar Martinez by a score of 13-2, and then to Trenton McEwen of Custer County, in a time of 4:00, in his second match.

Jaron Ragsdale lost to Zach Jackson of Wray in his first round match in a time of 2:54. He won his next match in a pin fall time of 1:38 over Isaac Sierra of John Mall. He then lost to Mike Dillon of Rangley in a time of 4:27.

Weston Rasmussen lost to Colin Eberhart of Burlington in a time of 1:12, and then to Jack Woods of Custer County in a time of 4:00.

The Norwood Mavericks are proud of their record this year, and the fact they were able to send six wrestlers to State. With the return of four of the six State qualifiers next year, they look forward to a promising season.