Cleveland's boys, girls sweep 5A state wrestling titles; the boys ended Volcano Vista's three-year run

RIO RANCHO — Volcano Vista mounted a stout title defense, but the Hawks’ run at the top of the Class 5A wrestling pyramid was ended by district rival Cleveland.

The Storm had four individual champions, and scored 317 points to capture the 5A title on Saturday night at the Rio Rancho Events Center.

Aztec successfully defended its Class 1A-4A boys crown, 241-156 over runner-up Belen, and Cleveland’s girls three-peated as state champions.

Class 5A boys

Volcano Vista and Cleveland combined for nine individual champions among the 14 weight classes, but the Storm’s depth — they put 13 wrestlers into the semifinals — was too much for the Hawks, who had won the last three 5A championships, to overcome.

The Storm finished 33.5 points ahead of Volcano Vista, which scored 283.5 points. Las Cruces (151.5) had a terrific weekend, and placed third.

Identical twins Roman and Reagan Luttrell both won titles for Cleveland.

Roman, the older twin by two minutes but also the considerably smaller twin, joined the rare five-title club, as he pinned Elias Martinez of Volcano Vista in 91 seconds in the 120-pound final. He finished his senior season with a sparkling 50-0 record.

And he was reminiscing about his first one, as an eighth-grader.

“I really just had to capture that first one,” said Luttrell, who has committed to wrestle at Utah Valley. “I can definitely say, out of all five, it is the first one that is most special to me.”

Reagan was the 165-pound champ, with a 4-0 decision over Carlos Gamboa of Las Cruces.

Freshman Ricardo Poolaw (37-4) won first place for Cleveland at 113 pounds with a 10-6 decision over Jacob Andrada-Muñoz of Eldorado. And the Storm also had the final state champion of the evening, with heavyweight Riley Haussler (32-1) winning by technical fall.

There were a few multiple state champions up and down the 5A brackets.

Diego Torrez of Cibola won his third state title and capped a 44-1 junior campaign with a 17-0 technical fall of Gabriel Serros of Volcano Vista at 132 pounds.

“I’m just very happy,” Torrez said. “I’m always nervous going into this tournament, but I feel like I’m best when I have those butterflies and that nervousness.”

Volcano had a pair of three-time state champions. Seniors Lorenzo Gallegos (138) and Jonathon Romero (144) celebrated large after both ended their prep careers with a third title. Gallegos (32-4), who won state in 2023 and 2024 but missed out last February when he wrestled up in weight at state, major-decisioned Israel Guevara of Cleveland 13-2, while Romero (40-4) won 10-2 over Marcus Abeyta of Cleveland.

“It was pretty sweet, I can’t lie,” Gallegos said of his return to the top of the podium. “I was pretty excited and ecstatic celebrating my third.”

Also for the Hawks, Elijah Gawronski completed a ferocious season at 215; he won by pin at 5:12 Saturday night to finish off a 39-2 season. Teammate Akeem Mitchell, a sophomore, grinded out a 2-1 decision at 190 pounds against Jacari Smith of Rio Rancho. Ben Duran (40-6) was the fifth Volcano champion, as he pinned Mateo Tapia of Cleveland at 1:47 at 150 pounds.

Thirteen of the 14 No. 1 seeds won state; the exception was sophomore Samuel Pages of Hobbs, the 2 seed who won the 175-pound division.

Class 1A-4A boys

Aztec put six wrestlers into the finals, and five of them came away with first-place medals.

Senior Ethan Vigil (38-5), a 1 seed, won quickly by pin at 120 pounds, followed by top-seeded James Moore (42-6), a 4-0 winner at 126, and Taner Olguin (39-8), the third seed at 132. He posted a 6-2 decision over top-seeded Santiago Medrano of West Las Vegas.

“It’s day-in, day-out all the time (with this team),” Olguin said. “Constantly with hard work, blood, sweat, tears. I love this team. We’re just so together and that’s what makes this team so special.”

Cory Douglas (44-5) at 165 pounds and Aiden Trujillo (36-9) at 215 rounded out Aztec’s list of individual winners Saturday night.

The metro area produced a trio of individual champions, led by undefeated senior Valentin Popadiuc of St. Pius. The Iowa State-bound Popadiuc completed a 48-0 season with a 17-2 technical fall of Fernando Ureste of Tucumcari at 157 pounds. It is Popadiuc’s third state title.

Mycah Gachupin (42-2) of the Sartans also was a state champion. The senior decisioned top-seeded Kadeyn Mcneil of Socorro 4-1 at 150 pounds.

The longest shot of any finalist was sophomore Dominik Suarez of Valencia, the No. 5 seed at 106 pounds. But he opened the evening with a pin (in just 1:19) of Nathan Hare of Aztec, who was seeded second.

West Las Vegas, which finished third with 153 points, enjoyed a fine weekend.

The Dons had three state champions: at 113 with Andres Ram Lopez, at 175 with top-seeded Korbyn Harvey, and at 190 with undefeated Vicente Garcia, who finished 42-0 this season as a sophomore.

Girls

Cleveland rolled up 146 points to bring home a third straight blue trophy. Las Cruces, which had one of the best state wrestling weekends in the school’s history with trophies in both genders, scored 114.5 points to place second. Miyamura (110) was third.

The Storm’s resident superstar, senior Eloise Woolsey, ripped through the 155-pound bracket with four pins, all in the first period. She became a four-time state champion — two In Hawaii before gaining two more here — and finished 34-1. Her only loss came to a girl in Colorado.

“It was actually amazing,” she said. “The whole entire day, I was just ready to get done with that. … It’s so surreal. It’s so exciting.”

Jaden Meadows of Sandia also is a four-time state champion; she won all hers for Sandia. At 170 pounds, Meadows (36-0) won quickly by pin Saturday.

“This means everything to me,” Meadows said. “It shows that girls are able to come from New Mexico and we can produce amazing girls from New Mexico.”

Meadows, like Woolsey, has not yet selected a college.

Also for Cleveland, championships went to fifth-seeded sophomore Kaydence O’Neil Dreher (20-9) at 100 pounds, where she won by pin; to sophomore Miranda Stewart (31-5), who won by technical fall at 120 pounds; and to senior Heaven Guevara (35-1) who won by injury default at 135 pounds.

Sophia Rimbert is now a state champion at multiple schools. The former Atrisco Heritage wrestler won state Saturday night for Volcano Vista, taking first place at 130 pounds with a pin of West Mesa’s Olivia Brody.

Sandia had two other state champions besides Meadows in junior Neviah Varela-Marquez (32-2) at 145 where she had a tense 2-1 decision, and Kassandra Arundale-Walton (26-2), a sophomore who had four pins this weekend as she dominated the competition at 190 pounds.

Valencia’s Alexis Avis-Labus, the No. 1 seed at 105, won state with a first-period pin and finished 30-1 for her senior season.

Albuquerque Academy freshman Vivienne Popadiuc, Valentin’s younger sister, also won state. She took a 3-1 decision in the final at 110 pounds and, like her brother, didn’t lose a match all season. She was 32-0.

“It was awesome,” Popadiuc said, adding that she took the inspiration to wrestle from her brother. “I was so happy. I’ve been working so hard for this.”

James Yodice covers prep sports for the Journal. You can reach him at jyodice@abqjournal.com or via X at @JamesDYodice.