CHS squads fourth, fifth in tournament
Jan. 16—RUIDOSO — Clovis High's girls finished fourth while the boys were fifth in Saturday's nine-school Sierra Blanca Invite, hosted by Ruidoso H.S.
Roswell Goddard took both team titles, winning the boys' event with 169 points to 164 1/2 for Roswell High and taking girls team honors with 100 points to 65 for Mayfield. Clovis' boys finished with 99 points while the girls scored 35.
The Lady Wildcats placed in five divisions. Sophomore Sophie Collasco was second at 138, losing her final match 3-2 to Mayfield's Alyssa Michel, while sophomore Zulehiny Mendoza took third in the 114-pound group, beating Star Borden of Roswell High by first-period pin in the finals.
At 145 pounds, sophomore Sunnay Ward was fourth in a round-robin, losing by first-period fall to Goddard's Merelyn Martinez and Kyle Archuleta and to Mayfield's Mia Aguilara.
For the Wildcats, three wrestlers finished third and three were fourth. In final-round third-place bouts which CHS won, eighth-grader Antonio Pena defeated Burges' Benjamin Carrillo by second-period pin, junior Kaell Berry pinned Alamo's Armando Martinez in the first at 133 and junior Felix Madrid taking a first-period pin from Mayfield's Chase Kauffman.
In third-place matches the Cats lost, junior Angel Diaz was pinned in the second frame by Organ Mountain's Levi Goodman at 172 pounds; sophomore John Roybal lost by first-period pin at 189 to Roswell High's Matthew Avitia, and sophomore Kaleb King lost by first-period to Angel Cano of El Paso Buress.
The Cats and Lady Cats have district contests on tap Thursday night at Roswell High.
Lady Cats compete at Moriarty — Saturday's competition finished off a busy weekend for the Lady Cats, who competed in Moriarty's nine-team Lady Pinto Invitational the day before and landed in fifth place.
The host Lady Pintos took team honors with 98 points, outlasting Sandia (91). Kirtland Central followed with 72 points, with Albuquerque Academy fourth at 71 and the Lady Cats following with 53.
Eight Lady Cats placed, including freshman Guadalupe Guzman with a win at 235 pounds. Meantime, junior Jaylyn Trujillo earned fourth place in the division.
Also, Zulehiny reached the finals at 114, where she lost to Albuquerque Academy's Sydney Koranyi by first-period fall. Ward earned third place at 138, Fullerton at 120 and Romero at 126 notched fourth-place finishes, and Evelin Guifarro at 126 and Collazo at 138 came in fifth.
Both CHS squads will be in Hobbs for a District 4-5A dual on Thursday and a tournament hosted by the Eagles and Lady Eagles on Friday and Saturday.
