Three days after sweeping four other Division IV teams at a five-way meet, Camp Verde High School’s wrestlers enjoyed the perfect prelude to a defense of their state title by capturing the Sand Devil Classic in Page on Saturday, Jan. 25.
The Cowboys, as a team, came back from 30 points down at the beginning of that day, the second of the 25-team tournament held at Page High School, to edge runner-up Winslow High School by two, 195.5 to 193.5. CVHS defeated teams from Utah and Colorado as well as larger high schools from Arizona like third-place Prescott and fifth-place Flagstaff high schools to win a championship that came down to the final match of the night, Cowboys head wrestling coach Bob Weir said.
Junior Ryan Allred, sophomore Alex Casillas and freshman Hayden Uhler all won their weight classes with four victories at the tournament, with the 113-pound Casillas and the 106-pound Uhler winning two of their four matches by pin.
“Ryan Allred wrestled with the flu but was able to defeat all of his opponents,” Weir said.
The 145-pound Allred, a two-time state champion who is the first freshman wrestling champion ever at CVHS, and his 10 other teammates well enough to travel to Page overcame a deficit of health and able bodies as well as the 30 points to the Bulldogs, Weir added.
“They only had 11 weight classes filled out of the 14 weight classes. So they were three wrestlers down compared to the the other top six teams,” he said.
For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Jan. 29, issue of the Camp Verde Journal.
