The Camp Verde Wrestling team has reloaded and is ready to fire into the new season.
With three individual state champions and four other state placers returning to the team, plus a number of top notch newcomers, the Cowboys would seem to have an excellent chance of defending their Division IV state championship.
The team already posted dominating wins over four other teams in a five-way meet at the high school on Nov. 26, beating Arizona Lutheran 65-10, Antelope 66-12, Northwest Christian 57-9 and Bourgade Catholic 54-24, despite missing two of their best wrestlers.
Both sophomore Alex Casillas and junior Ryan Allred — two of the Cowboys three returning state champions — are working their way back from injuries and did not participate.
But sophomore state champion Matt Mejia went 4-0 with one pin in the 120-pound weight class to lead eight Cowboys wrestlers who were undefeated in the meet.
Freshman Hayden Uhler, a junior high state-champion last season, was 5-0 with four pins at 113 pounds; freshman Ezekial Casillas, another junior high state champion, was 4-0 with one pin at 126 pounds; junior Alex Noone was 4-0 with three pins at 132 pounds; senior Isaiah McReynolds was 4-0 with two pins at 145 pounds; senior Chance Weir was 5-0 with two pins at 160 pounds; junior Jeremy McEachern was 7-0 with five pins at 170 pounds; and junior Eduardo Mora was 3-0 in his first ever varsity competition.
“The five-way meet was a great day for all of the wrestlers for the Cowboys,” said Camp Verde head wrestling coach Bob Weir. “It was a time for the experienced wrestlers to get some mat time and conditioning, [and] the younger wrestlers had a great experience and had a good time for their first matches.”
For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Dec. 4, issue of the Camp Verde Journal.
