3 local wrestlers take mats at State; 1 returns with title

It was an exciting weekend at the Colorado State Wrestling tournament held at Ball Arena in Denver last weekend. Sedgwick County/Fleming has a new State Champion to add to their wall of Champions.

Senior Hayden Burr reached his goal and earned the title of 2A 160-pound Colorado State Champion. In addition to Burr's State title, sophomore Kaiden Schelling earned hardware finishing in fifth place at 106 pounds. Freshman Scotty Engle wrestled a tough tournament, but came up just a little short of bringing home a medal.

Schelling had a great season; ending it with a record of 37-14. This was his first trip to the State Tournament due to the COVID pandemic restrictions last year. He would have made the trip last year if they would have taken the top four places from Regionals instead of just the top two.

Schelling started his state tournament off a little rough, losing his first match to Traven Sharon of Fowler by fall. He then received a bye in the consolation round one which advanced him to the consolation round two where he defeated Matthew Salazar of Centauri, 6-5. Schelling had one more match he had to win to be guaranteed a state medal. In his consolation round three match, he defeated Jordan Duran of Center, 4-3, and advanced to the consolation semifinals where he was defeated by AJ Jaramillo of Dolores Huerta by fall. This loss put Kaiden in a contest for fifth place where he defeated a very familiar opponent Austin Snapp of Wray, 5-2, to earn the fifth place medal.

113-pound freshman Scotty Engle had a very successful freshman year ending his season with a 44-5 record. Engle defeated Andrew Hannigan of Platte Canyon in his championship round match with a fall in 4:31. This win advanced him to the quarterfinals against Centauri's Riley Valdez. Engle wrestled tough, but lost this match 9-4. This loss put him on the consolation side of the bracket where he met up with Ethan Hice of Cedaredge in the consolation round two. Engle once again wrestled well, but came up short losing this match in a close, 8-6, decision. The loss would end Engle's State Tournament and hopes of a State medal.

Senior Hayden Burr ended his season with a 49-1 record as the 160-pound Colorado 2A State Champion. In the championship round one, Burr defeated Ayden Mathews of Mancos with a fall in 3:23. The win put him in the quarterfinals where he defeated Tach Brewer of Crowley County, 6-2, which advanced him to semifinals. Burr defeated Cade Blunt of Meeker with a 12-1 major decision and advanced to the Championship match.

Burr took the mat Saturday night against Centauri's Josh Polkowske. Burr defeated Polkowske with a fall in 1:29 in the match to take this year's State title.