The Gunnison High School boys wrestling team finished up their final big week before regionals and state with a dual at North Fork and a trip to Cañon City for the 2026 Duff Seaney Invite.
The Cowboys traveled to North Fork on Wednesday, Jan. 28, losing the dual 47-32. They were able to fill 12 weights and only gave up the 165-pounds and 175-pound matches. They gained back one match as North Fork was unable to fill the 113-pound match.
At 150 pounds, Hagyn Athey was pinned after 1:30. Ryan Holler was pinned after 30 seconds while wrestling at 157 pounds. Owen Smejkal was pinned after 1:11 while wrestling at 190 pounds. Gavin Smejkal was pinned after 1:54 while wrestling at 215 pounds. At 285 pounds, Freddie Bernabe was pinned after 2:58. Zayne Benson won the first match for the Cowboys, winning by a 10-0 major decision at 106 pounds. Nolan Witzel won by a 14-5 major decision at 120 pounds. Bentley Patrick lost by a 15-0 technical fall while wrestling at 126 pounds. Cody Casebolt pinned his opponent after 1:34 while wrestling at 132 pounds. At 138 pounds, Julian Patrick pinned his opponent after 1:46. Zach Benson pinned his opponent after 54 seconds while wrestling at 144 pounds in the final match of the dual.
Two junior varsity Cowboy wrestlers got extra matches at the dual as well. Cody Vick pinned his opponent after 1:20 while wrestling at 106 pounds and Cooper Fabbre pinned his opponent after 2:53 at 138 pounds. It was Fabbre’s first win which head coach Michael Seijo called super exciting.
“You can definitely tell the difference in energy from this duel to the Montrose duel just, you know, on the pure fact that we had everybody there and everybody was cheering for everybody and, you know, getting into the duel, so that was pretty exciting,” said Seijo after the dual.
The Cowboys then traveled to Cañon City to compete in the 2026 Duff Seaney Invite on Saturday, Jan. 31. As a team, Gunnison placed sixth out of 40 teams, had four individual placers and one champion.
“I think it was overall the best we've wrestled all year, so that's, you know, really good going into the end of the year, you know, going into regionals and state,” said Seijo after the tournament.
Zach Benson was Gunnison's only individual champion of the day. He wrestled at 144 pounds, scored 32 points for the Cowboys and pinned his first four opponents. He pinned his first opponent after 1:03, his second after 1:04, his third after 2:45 and his fourth after 1:14 to reach the first-place match. In his final match he won by a 4-1 decision and improved to a perfect 38-0 on the season.
Zayne Benson placed second while wrestling at 106 pounds, scoring 22 points for the Cowboys at the tournament. He pinned his first opponent after 57 seconds, won his second match by a 10-3 decision, won by a 11-4 decision in the quarterfinals and advanced to the first-place match with a 8-2 win by decision in the semifinals. Zayne Benson was pinned in his final match after 5:48 and placed second, but still improved his record to 33-4 on the season.
Casebolt also placed second for the Cowboys, wrestling at 132 pounds and scoring 28 points. He received a first-round bye and then proceeded to pin his next three opponents. He pinned his first opponent after 23 seconds, his second after 3:53 and his third opponent after 1:34. In the championship match Casebolt was pinned after 2:42, but he still improved to 26-8 on the season at the tournament.
Julian Patrick was the final Cowboy to place at the tournament. Wrestling at 138 pounds, Patrick placed sixth and scored 14 team points. He pinned his first opponent after 58 seconds and his second opponent after 1:47, but lost by an 18-1 technical fall in the quarterfinals. He pinned his next opponent after 4:52, but lost his next two matches, the first by a 7-1 decision and the second by a 12-3 major decision. He now holds a 25-9 record on the season.
At 113 pounds, Braedyn Anderson did not place, but went 3-2 and scored 8.5 points for the Cowboys. At 120 pounds, Noah Witzel did not place, but went 2-2 and scored six points for the Cowboys. At 126 pounds, Bentley Patrick did not place, but went 1-2 and scored three points for the Cowboys.
At 150 pounds, Athey did not place and did not score after going 0-2. At 190 pounds, Owen Smejkal did not place and did not score after going 0-2. At 285 pounds Bernabe did not place and did not score after going 0-2.
The boys now have one final dual against Salida on Wednesday, Feb. 4. The dual is their final competition before the regional and state tournaments. The varsity boys will also help run the home junior varsity tournament with the girls team on Saturday, Feb. 7.
With only one competition left, Seijo is making sure that the boys stay sharp. He will have them working on situational awareness, getting to their favorite stuff on top, practicing takedowns and how to get out of bottom as well as going over overtime rules.
“It's this time of year, it's not really about making it a pretty win, just making sure we find a way to win,” said Seijo.
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