Pomona High School’s boys wrestling team extended its winning streak to eight consecutive state championships at the Class 5A tournament held at Ball Arena. The team set a new state scoring record, surpassing their previous mark of 278.5 points by finishing with 303.5 points, despite losing one point for unsportsmanlike conduct during the event.
Coach Sam Federico commented on the team’s achievement: “Nine-for-nine is pretty unbelievable and 12-for-12 including third and fifth-place matches, so it was a really cool day and a pretty fun environment. This kind of thing just doesn’t happen and if you’re going to break a record, you might as well shatter it.”
Pomona had nine wrestlers win individual state titles in one tournament, breaking the previous record held by Holly High School, which had seven champions in a single year. The Panthers finished the tournament with only six losses out of 59 matches among their 14 qualifiers.
The championship run began with senior Emmerson Claeys at 190 pounds, who won by technical fall against Bryce Hayman from Loveland. Fellow senior Maddux Najera followed with a victory over defending champion Eli Stevens from Northglenn at 215 pounds. Logan Dellow secured the points needed to break the record with his decision win at 120 pounds.
Derek Barrows added his third career title after pinning Jack Simpson from Ponderosa in the second period of the final at 150 pounds. Barrows reflected on his team’s performance: “After the first match, it just started rolling and it didn’t stop. That’s an extra standard that came tonight after that first match. You didn’t want to be the one to end the perfect streak…300 is a lot of points for a team, so we really had to come out here and dominate the last day and we did that.”
Freshman Donovan Symalla completed his season with a narrow win in his final match, while Emmitt Munson overcame Gunner Lopez from Grandview in another close contest at 165 pounds. Kalob Ybarra concluded Pomona’s perfect night by defeating Brogan Trollope from Pine Creek with a major decision.
Ybarra described what this victory meant for him: “The team came and showed up today, so all I could do was end it with a banger,” he said. “I think this title means the most to me. I had a lot of family here, so it made it more special.”
Grandview High School finished second overall—their best finish yet—scoring 176 points ahead of Ponderosa’s 106 points. Four Grandview wrestlers reached championship matches; junior JR Ortega became a two-time state champion by pinning Jacob Ness from Castle View in the finals at 126 pounds after previously winning at 113 pounds last year.
Ortega commented on his improvement: “I got a chance to show how much better I’d gotten this season,” he said. “I think it showed how much work I put in.”
Other notable champions included Cherokee Trail’s Cooper Mathews (132 pounds), Brighton’s Tony Tufano (113), Legend’s Alexander Rose (heavyweight), and Ponderosa’s Michael Lopez (144).
