Steamboat Pilot & Today

Denver — Four area wrestlers had their hands raised in victory during the opening round of the 66th annual State Wrestling Championships Thursday.

Hayden's Anton Fredrickson, Joel Wixson and Kelly Bruchez advanced to the championship quarterfinals along with Josh Iacovetto of Soroco.

The quarterfinals begin at 10 a.m. today at the Pepsi Center.

Eleven other wrestlers from Routt County will compete in the first round of consolations that start immediately following the quarterfinals.

Fredrickson, the defending 125-pound state champion who is gunning for a state title in the 135-pound class this season, pinned Jeremy Wells of Sargent at the 3:04-mark of their preliminary contest. Fredrickson now faces Dustin Uhland of Wiley in the quarterfinals.

Bruchez stopped Nathan Hijar of Crowley County at the 3:01-mark of their 145-pound bout.

Wixson, who placed fifth at the state level last year in the 160-pound class, pinned Gus Friesen of Gilpin County at the 1:59-mark in a 171-pound match.

Iacovetto, who wrestles in the 103-pound class, was the lone Ram who earned a victory in the preliminaries. He beat Ross Wollert of Wiley 8-2.

Iacovetto led the bout 5-2 after two periods and then tallied three points on a near fall in the final period to seal the win. He now faces Josef Sisneros of Antonito in the quarterfinals.

Wixson will tangle with Josh Vialpanda of John Mall and Bruchez will meet Del Norte's Trever Kerr.

Tigers assistant coach Ty Zabel said his team did well, though it needed to fight harder today to have a shot at placing high in the tourney.

Thursday night, when the 2A/3A preliminaries were over, Zabel and head coach John Svoboda kept their team at the arena to watch the 4A/5A preliminaries that lasted until about 10:45 p.m.

"We figured we'd keep them over there tonight to keep them focused and keep their minds on what their job is," Zabel said. "We're trying to keep them focused."

At 7:15 p.m. tonight, the semifinals get under way.

Area wrestlers who are competing in the first round of consolations today are Hayden's Troy Kochenower (112), Jimmy Rossi (125), Josh Giessinger (140), Kevin Miller (152), Riley Whiteman (160), Clayton Neumiller (189) and Tanner Copeland (215).

For Soroco, Brandon Ager (119), Cody Denning (130), Brandon Gilleland (152) and Tyler Knott (160) will wrestle in the consolation round.

The state tourney runs through Saturday.