Highland High School’s boys wrestling team secured its first-ever state championship in Class 2A after a closely contested tournament at Ball Arena in Denver. Heading into the final matches, just 11.5 points separated six teams: North Fork, Highland, Buena Vista, Burlington, Rocky Ford, and Cedaredge.
The Huskies clinched the title with three individual champions. Co-head coach Dean Lewis reflected on the achievement: “We had our dogs in the fight and they rose to the occasion,” Lewis said. ”They bought in from day one. We just did something that’s never been done at our high school. I’ve been coaching for 33 years and I’m speechless.”
Lewis credited senior Wyatt Chase for setting the tone by pinning Yuma’s Daden Beauprez in the 190-pound division within one minute and thirty seconds. The win gave Highland a narrow lead over North Fork. “He’s a team leader and he’s signed to play football at South Dakota School of Mines,” Lewis said. “He definitely got us going and got everybody excited. We were doing the math. If all three of our guys just win, we win the whole thing. It played out exactly how we planned.”
Carter Jensen followed with a victory over Dayspring Christian Academy’s Liam Deboer in the 132-pound class, winning 16-3. “This is my 13th year wrestling and I’ve been working for this all this time,” Jensen said.
Jensen’s cousin Tyler Varra completed Highland’s run by defeating Akron’s Kaleb Grauer 16-0 in the 144-pound category, finishing his season with a record of 48-2.
Highland finished with 111 points, ahead of North Fork’s 105.5 points. Burlington and Rocky Ford tied for third place with 94.5 points each.
“All of our finals matches tonight were our regional matches,” Lewis said. “They were the same kids. It’s always tough to beat somebody twice. That was hopefully not weighing on the kids as much as it was me. We tried to just keep them in a kind of space that was a relaxed environment.”
Lewis noted that Highland has developed greater depth since he began coaching there: “My first year at Highland it was my son and three other kids,” he said. “There wasn’t a lot of depth… Now we have good numbers all the way through the middle school and the elementary school.”
He acknowledged new expectations after this championship: “We have to realize that the community is going to expect us to win now,” he said.
Eight out of twelve Highland wrestlers qualified for state; five placed at the tournament including Robert Olson (fifth at 120 pounds) and Korbin Hoke (fifth at 126 pounds).
Other standout performances included Austin Collins from Wray High School who won his third consecutive state title in the 150-pound class by pinning Elijah Martin from Dayspring Christian Academy in sixty seconds.
“My oldest brother (Tyler) was a two-time state champion for Wray and my second oldest brother (Brady) was a three-time state champion for Wray,” Collins said with a smile.
Collins praised his family influence: “My older two brothers were wrestling and so I was always following them… That’s what made me a good wrestler.” He also highlighted Wray’s tradition: “Wray wrestling is one of the most prestigious wrestling programs (16 team championships) in the state,” Collins said.
Anthony Estrada from Burlington claimed his first title at 215 pounds with an undefeated season after defeating Carter Stromer from Buena Vista by pinfall.
“I just got done losing in the state finals last year,” Estrada said. “I came back, put hard work in, and I got it done… He was seeded over me the whole year… I knew it was going to be a dog fight.”
Cooper Edson from Sedgwick County/Fleming earned gold at 120 pounds after narrowly beating Cash Martinez from Cedaredge—last year’s champion—by one point.
“My best bud went out in the semifinal round,” Edson said about teammate Owen Harris’ injury before dedicating his effort to him on Saturday night.
Edson attends Julesburg High School; Sedgwick County/Fleming combines athletes from Revere and Julesburg schools.
“To coincide into one is important for our team and it makes us a family,” Edson said.
