Stager wraps up strong wrestling season

Niwot’s Tommy Stager made a strong finish to his 2015-2016 wrestling campaign, narrowly missing All American status.

Since the school year ended in May, the Niwot High School senior has competed for Team Vision Quest Colorado in the NHSCA National Folkstyle Duals in Virginia Beach, and the AAU National “Disney” Duals in Orlando. Stager was 6-1 in Virginia Beach and 11-3 in Orlando. He was one of two Colorado wrestlers to win a medal (bronze) in the AAU Duals.

Stager then focused his attention on finishing the Freestyle and Greco-Roman season, traveling to Akron, Ohio to compete in the UWW Freestyle and Greco-Roman Cadet Nationals, where he compiled a record of 4-4. From there Stager traveled with the Colorado National Duals Team to Tulsa, Oklahoma for the USA Wrestling National Duals, where his record was 14-3. He finished his season in Fargo, North Dakota with the Colorado National Team competing in the USA Wrestling National Championships, where his overall record was 8-4.

In the Greco-Roman competition in Fargo, Stager missed being named an All-American by the narrowest of margins. After having defeated defending All-Americans from Wisconsin and Texas, he lost to the number two seed from Minnesota. At this point in the tournament Stager needed to win just one more match to become an All-American.

That next match was against Chris Sandoval from Windsor, a two-time Fargo All-American. After falling behind 8-0 after the first period, Stager began a furious comeback and the match ended in an 8-8 tie. However, under USA Wrestling tie-breaking rules and because of the way the points were scored, Sandoval was awarded the win, and with it his third All-American title.

Stager’s overall record for the 2015-2016 campaign was 150-31, including the CHSAA high school season (47-5), pre-season / post-season national tournaments (48-13), and Freestyle / Greco-Roman tournaments (55-13). He will begin the 2016-2017 season in October.