Cougar wrestlers score at Alameda Invite

The Niwot High School wrestling program showed significant improvement at the 49th Annual Alameda International Invite last weekend, according to trackwrestling.com. A total of 22 teams competed from several classes.

Jonathan Lopez led the way with a fourth-place finish in the 285-pound division, scoring 16 points. Lopez began the meet with a win over Bobbie Hester of Clear Creek in a tense 1-0 decision. He followed with a quarterfinal win by fall at the 1:23 mark over Romeo Ramirez of Bear Creek. In the semi-finals, Lopez lost by fall to Columbine’s Marcus Weston, who entered the meet with a 19-5 record and ended up winning the championship

Lopez came back to win by injury default early in the consolation semi-finals over Avery Reichter of Golden. In the third-place match, Lopez battled, but eventually lost by fall at the 4:00 mark to Pomona’s Loghan Cain.

Pavi Soni also scored 16 points for the Cougars after battling his way back through the consolation bracket at 190 pounds after a first-round loss by fall to Rico Anaya of Pomona at the 2:56 mark. Anaya eventually took third place in the meet. Soni had a bye in the first round of the consolation bracket, then won his next two matches, both by fall, over Grandview’s Marcus Nesbitt (2:13) and Alameda’s Eli Escalara (4:17), respectively.

In the consolation semi-finals, Soni was again matched up against his first-round opponent, Anaya, and again lost by fall, this time at the 1:35 mark. Soni came back to take fifth place overall with a victory over Legacy’s Jack Kurzawa by fall at the 4:56 mark.

Russell Ragland scored seven points for Niwot in the 165-pound class, winning his first match over Alameda’s Donovan Aguilera by fall at the 2:38 mark. Ragland lost in the next round by fall to Columbine’s Titus Miranda at the 4:41 mark. Miranda ended up taking second place in the meet. Ragland made quick work of his next opponent, Mullen’s Landon Aquino, winning by fall 39 seconds into the match, but lost a 9-6 decision to Grandview’s Nathan Ly, the eventual fourth-place finisher, in the next round.

Lucas Menza, who lost his first match in the 157-pound division to Golden’s Nathan Reynolds by fall at the 4:51 mark, came back to win his first match in the consolation division by fall over Mullen’s Keegan Loth at the 3:17 mark. Reynolds ended up in fourth place on the day, while Menza added three points to the Niwot team score with his victory. Menza lost a 12-5 decision in the next round to Legend’s Roshan Balagi, ending his day with 3 points.

Jacobi Alton picked up one point for Niwot in the 126-pound division. Alton lost his first-round match to Grandview’s Arturo Zepeda by fall at the 3:57 mark, but came back to win a 5-4 decision over Mullen’s Trace Taylor in the consolation bracket. Ponderosa’s Shane Rettig ended Atlon’s day in the next match, winning by fall at the 1:40 mark.

Also wrestling for the Cougars were Cole Dudderar (106), Sergio Rodriguez (132), Hikaru Johnson (138) and Sanjay Mudukutore (150).

Coach Bobby Matthews was pleased with the results though his squad is still not at full strength. “Overall the guys wrestled much better this weekend,” Matthews said. “Pavi and Jonathan are getting better and getting back into shape after missing some time due to family vacations over break. Many wrestlers are starting to put things together. Not easy to see in a stat sheet as their improvements have not yet resulted in wins. However they are beginning to ‘chain wrestle’ and put things together. Hopefully we get some guys back from sickness and injury soon.”