Mesa Ridge leads area teams in a Pueblo wrestling regional loaded with local talent

PUEBLO — Devante Johnson won his third regional title Saturday and led Mesa Ridge to a fourth-place finish at the Class 4A Region 3 tournament in Pueblo. 

Cheyenne Mountain’s Jeremy Grooms won the 170-pound championship and was named the Jerry L. Pike Memorial Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament. 

Johnson pinned Air Academy’s Caleb Cuneio at the 4:52 mark in the 160-pound championship. 

“Devante wrestled well,” Grizzlies coach Mark Walker said. “He’s just doing what he needs to do to get to the next level.” 

Johnson said he treated the tournament like a warmup for the state tournament, which starts Thursday at Denver’s Pepsi Center. 

Cañon City’s Miguel Montelongo (182 pounds) was the only other area winner. 

The Grizzlies were the highest finisher among the area schools, but their 144.5 points didn't come within shouting distance of winner Pueblo South’s 224. Broomfield was second with 190.5 and Pueblo Central scored 158 throughout the two-day tourney. Cañon City (129.5), Falcon (122.5), Air Academy (102), Cheyenne Mountain (102) rounded out the top eight schools. 

Grooms won the award in a stacked regional that in one bracket pitted the state’s top two ranked wrestlers in the semifinals. Every coach in the tournament votes.

“He’s very deserving of this award,” Cheyenne Mountain coach Nick Gagliardi said. “He’s a three-time state qualifier, and I hope he’s standing at the podium next week on top.” 

The state brackets will be released Sunday on the Colorado High School Activities Association’s website (chsaa.org). 

AJ Robb (Widefield), Bobby Amond (Cheyenne Mountain), Keith Cays (Mesa Ridge), Cody Soulka (Falcon) and Tuli Laulu (Sand Creek) all finished in second place. 

Of the five runners up, third-ranked Cays was the only one favored to win. He was upset by 10th-ranked Zach Stodden from Broomfield. 

Air Academy’s Rip Price, ranked third in state and tops at the regional, had to forfeit his semifinal match to Broomfield’s Connor Eakes. Price was called for an illegal hold, re-injuring Eakes’ ankle. Since Eakes was unable to continue, Price had to forfeit the match. 

Price said he was disappointed but the loss wasn’t a huge deal as he still took third place in the region, qualifying for state. Eakes was unable to wrestle the championship match.

Brandon Hopper is the sports editor at the Cañon City Daily Record