TCA's Register, Sandoval of Florence move into 3A wrestling semifinals

DENVER – Andrew Register, a junior at The Classical Academy, grinded out a 3-2 decision over Bayfield’s Drake Rhodes on Friday to advance into the 3A championship semifinals at 138 pounds at the state wrestling meet at the Pepsi Center.

Register, seeded third, will face No. 7 Brandon Heredia of Alamosa, who earlier Friday surprised second-seeded Brandon Coleman of Salida.

At 152 pounds, Florence senior Scott Sandoval advanced in a tiebreaker past Elias Altimarano of La Junta, neither able to break a 5-5 tie in two extra periods of overtime. The 11^th-seeded Sandoval will continue his run through the bracket with a semifinal clash with No. 2 Jackson Wright of Valley.

All 2A and 3A championship semifinals begin at 7 p.m. Friday.

Three other small-school competitors fell in the quarterfinals Friday. In the 3A tournament at 145 pounds, Ellicott’s Fabian Hermosillo lost a hard-fought 7-5 decision to Alamosa’s Dillon Vance. At 160 pounds, Cameron Krautschun of CSCS fell 2-1 to No. 2 Taylor Maik of La Junta.

In 2A at 120 pounds, Dillon Pelkola of Peyton was pinned by No. 2 Jesse Reed of Paonia in 3:35.

Visit gazettepreps.com later this afternoon for an update on 4A and 5A championship quarterfinals, which got under way at 1 p.m.

In the consolation rounds, Peyton’s Dillon Pelkola recorded a 45-second pin over Custer County’s Weldon Rusher to keep his state medal hopes alive.

Ellicott’s Randy Munoz scored a third-period pin over Garrett Toothaker of Hotchkiss to advance in the consolation brakcket for the Thunderhawks. Teammate Raul Morales scored a 3-1 decision over Colorado Spring Christian’s Cameron Krautschun.