The weeks and weeks of hard work paid off, the East High School Wrestling Team finally got to step foot on those State Wrestling mats. Some for the very first time and some for the very last time. There to show what years and years of wrestling their hearts out and dedication looked like. Colorado State Wrestling Championship was held in Denver, Colorado February 20th through the 22nd at the Pepsi Center. State is ran in sessions, one in a day or multiple in a day. If you win all sessions you have a straight path to the championship match, but if you lose you have to battle your way up the backside of the bracket and get through “the blood round” to place. Your opponent in the blood round lost their match for first place, while you battled your way up the backside of the bracket to get there. In wrestling your seating on the bracket can be really lucky or unlucky. Sometimes you have to work that much harder to get where you want to be, going through some of Colorado’s best wrestling studs. Some that you’ve wrestled your whole life and know each other inside and out. It all comes down to who put more heart in that day, or even luck with a certain call. That’s the fun part of wrestling you never know what can happen. Being a wrestler, you have the courage to get out there by yourself, make mistakes and learn from them. You don’t have a team to rely on, the spotlight is just on you.

Our wrestling team took 11 wrestlers who battled all season to get there. Our team came together to earn points as a whole, this determines who takes state as a team. Each match gives us those points, each round we racked up those points. But if a wrestler lost two matches before blood rounds then they were out and we would no longer get those points. But a good chunk of our wrestlers placed and gave us some great points. At the end of the day our wrestlers poured their hearts out on the mats, leaving nothing but blood sweat and tears. Our team brought home many titles, Anthony Franklin (113) 5th, Weston Dalton (120) 1st, Anthony Flores (132) 5th, Sebastian Freeman (138) 3rd, Aaden Valdez (145) 2nd, Xavier Freeman (170) 5th. And for the first time in East High School History they brought home their first 4X State Champion Andy Garcia (Heavyweight). As well as bringing home the State Runner-Up Team Title. Congratulations to our wrestling team for another great wrestling season, we’re all so proud of you!  A special thank you to our amazing seniors for all the hard work they put in over the past four years setting an amazing example for our incoming wrestlers!