Dawson Collins, freshman, wrestling at 106, set the tone for the Tigers as they begin the three-day Colorado State Wrestling tournament held at the Pepsi Center in Denver.  Collins, who is seeded second in the tournament,  pinned his opponent.

Angelo Guillen, junior, wrestling at 113, followed Collins’ lead with a 12-8 win over his opponent from Doherty High School.

Tyren Castonguay, senior, wrestling at 126, bettered Guillen’s win with another pin in just 2:48 over Fitzgerald from Castleview.

Dylan Martinez, junior,  seeded first at his weight of 132,  pinned his opponent in just 44 seconds. When Josiah Rider, junior, wrestling at 145 and also seeded first,  took to the mat, he pinned is opponent in just 30 seconds.  In fact, by the time the announcer had called Rider’s name and that of the opponent, Rider had already finished the match.

Seth Latham, junior, wrestling at 170,  wrestled around a bit and finished his opponent from Doherty with a tech fall with a time of 5:15.

Shawn Garcia, senior, wrestling at 220, followed Latham’s tech fall with a pin in 2:24.

Each pin, tech fall and win will help the Tigers as they compete for a coveted team title.

Three other Tiger wrestlers will battle today in the consolation bracket with an eye to place.  Talen Valerio freshman, wrestling at 120,  battled against the number one seed in the tournament settling for a loss but not giving up a pin or tech fall.  JT Skalecki, sophomore, wrestling at 152, worked diligently against Ellerd from Brighton but lost in the end.

Hunter Tobiasson, sophomore, wrestling at 182,  lost a close match by one to Northglenn’s Flores in a match with a contested score.

All ten Tigers are still in the double elimination tournament.  Quarterfinals are scheduled for the early afternoon and semi-final matches will be this evening a 5:30 pm. At the end of the first round, the Tigers were in third place behind Brighton and Pomona.

The tournament can be followed at track wrestling.com and at CHSAAnow