Soroco’s Sky Carlson can’t be stopped.

A year ago, he was a junior in his first season on the Soroco High School wrestling team just hoping to make state. He went on to medal there, and now, a year later, he’s established himself as one of the top wrestlers in the state after a dominating weekend at a tournament at Center High School.

Carlson won his weight bracket, 220 pounds, and along the way beat both the No. 1 ranked 220-pound wrestler in Class 3A and the No. 3 in that same class.

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Not bad for a Class 2A guy who was playing a different sport entirely two years ago.

“He’s a machine. He’s just amazing,” coach Jay Whaley said. “He’s a student, and he really studies his opponents and the sport, and he’s on a mission.”

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He was one of two Rams to win a division at the 21-team tournament.

The other, junior Jace Logan, did it at 170 pounds and finished that off with a key win in a wild match.

He beat Travis Kerrigan of Buena Vista, one of just two wrestlers who’ve beaten Logan this season. It took all of three rounds. Logan led the match 11-3 at the start of the third period and won after a wild series of back-and-forth moves. The final score was 20-15.

“It was a crazy match, but he found a way to win,” Whaley said. “He seems to most of the time.”

Dalton Ray also placed for the Rams, finishing fifth at 145 pounds. He went 3-1 on the day. Erik Shaffer was sixth at 285 pounds.

 

Sailors wrestle tough Saturday

The Steamboat Springs High School wrestling team was eighth in a big tournament at Valley High School on Saturday.

“For the competition we went up against, the boys did really well. We showed we can wrestle with the big guys,” coach Travis Bryant said.

At the top of the list for Bryant was Spencer Mader at 120 pounds. He went 4-1 on the day, earning a spot in the third-place match. Wrestlers are limited to five matches in a day, so third was decided by a coin flip, which Mader lost.

Still, it was a strong enough of a performance to earn him the program’s wrestler of the week honors.

“He wrestled exceptionally well and beat a kid who beat him there last year,” Bryant said. “He works hard in the room with a great attitude.”

The Sailors had another wrestler go 4-1 at 132 pounds, Tucker Havel. He placed third, winning that coin flip, but against an opponent he had already beaten.

Bryant said Caleb Anderson wrestled two touch matches at 132 pounds, then Kyle Spognardi — 2-0 a a mid-week dual at Steamboat Springs High School — went 1-2 with one pin at 138 pounds.

Lance Bryant was sixth at 145 pounds, losing his coin flip for fifth place.

Austin Ban was 1-2 at 152.

Hayden Johnson won his weight division at 160, going 3-0. He won in the finals 11-2.

“He’s looking so tough. I can’t say any more than that without jinxing him,” Bryant said. “I just hope he can keep this going.”

John Slowey at 195 pounds went 0-2 in a couple close matches.

“Overall, we did really well as a team,” Bryant said. “Individually, we learned a lot about where we need to be and where we have to stay.”

Next up for the team is a trip Thursday to Palisade for a triangular where it will also see Rifle. Then the team will take the weekend off.

To reach Joel Reichenberger, call 970-871-4253, email jreichenberger@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @JReich9.