Volcano Vista, Cleveland take it to the wire in elite Conflict at Cleveland tournament

RIO RANCHO – One can only hope the Class 5A state wrestling tournament is as close as this weekend’s Conflict at Cleveland.

With the strongest field of the regular season gathered in Rio Rancho this weekend, three-time defending 5A state champion Volcano Vista won the CaC on Saturday afternoon at the Rio Rancho Events Center in the closest way possible. The Hawks scored 286 points over Friday and Saturday, and beat the host team, the Storm, their district rival, by a single point, 286-285.

Volcano Vista had a pair of champions in the event that attracted over 1,500 boys and girls wrestlers from roughly 80 schools in half a dozen states.

Senior Lorenzo Gallegos took down the 138-pound bracket for Volcano, and he won big in the championship match, a 16-1 technical fall against Diego Garcia of Atrisco Heritage.

Elijah Gawronski (19-2) the top seed at 215, was only on the mat for 60 seconds before he pinned his opponent in the final.

“I came in here feeling good,” he said. “I wasn’t worried about anybody in New Mexico.”

He was the state runner-up at 189 pounds last winter, and Gawronski isn’t hurting for confidence as he looks ahead to the second half of the season.

“I think it’s more about how I’m gonna win, how quickly I’m gonna win,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a question of if I’m gonna win, I know I’m gonna win.”

Cleveland, with three, produced the most individual champions.

Senior Roman Luttrell, who next month will be chasing his fifth individual state title, was top-seeded at 120 pounds for a reason. He pinned in his first five matches, then routed La Cueva’s Zack Valdez, 16-1 with a technical fall in the final. Luttrell is 25-0 this season.

Senior heavyweight Riley Haussler was the 5A state runner-up to La Cueva’s Mason Posa last February. Haussler (11-1) clearly looks like the favorite this season. With Posa, now a University of Wisconsin freshman, on hand watching Haussler on Saturday, Haussler decisioned Isaac Ledezma of Deming 8-5 in the last championship match of the boys’ tournament.

Haussler had recorded four pins leading into the finals.

“It’s really special for me,” Haussler said. “It’s really awesome to see myself excel, especially with this tournament.”

Haussler got a late start since he was playing football for the Storm.

“Last year, it was rough (losing in the final to Posa),” Haussler said, “but he (Posa) was one of the main building blocks to help me improve.”

Freshman Ricardo Poolaw of Cleveland was impressive as he became the 113-pound champion. His 5-1 decision over Bryce Lance of Bloomfield improved Poolaw to 21-1 this season.

St. Pius senior Valentin Popadiuc, who has signed to wrestle at Iowa State, swiftly made quick work of the field at 150 pounds, winning by pin, technical fall or major decision in his six matches. He pinned in the final, and improved to 22-0 for the season.

“Honestly, it’s more like gratitude for me,” he said. “At the end of the day, I’m just thankful I can wrestle. … Winning is amazing, but it’s about wrestling. That’s what it’s about. Nothing else.”

New Mexicans fared well in several other brackets, as well.

Senior Austin Lopez of Miyamura is now 23-0 this season after he captured the 126-pound title.

Sophomore Kolby Gonzales of Las Cruces (21-1) was a force on the mat during the two days; he posted a technical fall against Reagan Luttrell of Cleveland, 20-5 in the final at 165 pounds.

Vicente Garcia of West Las Vegas scored a victory for the smaller schools as the sophomore, the top seed at 190 pounds, pinned Akeem Mitchell of Volcano Vista to improve to 15-0 this season.

Cibola’s Diego Torrez (132), plus Volcano’s Jonathon Romero (the top seed at 144), both reached the finals in their respective brackets before losing in championship match. Romero, who had pinned five opponents leading into the final, was involved in one of the most competitive finals, on the wrong end of a 7-6 decision to a wrestler from Arizona.

In the team standings, Pueblo (Colorado) East, at 229 points, was a distant third. The top New Mexico finishers after Volcano and Cleveland were Belen, in sixth with 144.5 points, then Las Cruces (144) in seventh.

GIRLS: Garden City, Kansas, was the team champion this weekend, scoring 292 points. Cleveland was the top New Mexico school, in fourth place with 151 points. Sandia (117.5) placed eighth.

Several of the metro area’s elite wrestlers won titles on Saturday.

That included Cleveland senior Eloise Woolsey (11-0) at 155 pounds (where she won each of her five matches by pin, all in the first period) and Sandia senior Jaden Meadows (15-0) at 170, who wrestled on adjacent mats in the final and closed out victories within seconds of each other. Meadows had four pins and a technical fall in her path to the title.

The top seed at 135 pounds, senior Heaven Guevara of Cleveland, exerted her dominance, with five pins in the tournament, including one in the championship match.

The other Popadiuc in the tournament, Vivienne, a freshman at Albuquerque Academy, also was a CaC champion, winning her 105-pound class.

Senior Laura Almanza of Deming (17-1) was the CaC champ at 140 pounds, and won all six of her matches by pin. Sophomore Caylee Miller of Bloomfield was the girls’ heavyweight champion.