Girls, boys wrestling bear down on postseason

The Gunnison High School boys and girls wrestling teams finished up their regular seasons last week and have begun gearing up for the postseason.

The boys team hosted the Salida Spartans on Thursday, Feb. 5, for a dual, and the girls team traveled to Walsenburg for the 2026 Lady Panther Invitational on Friday, Feb. 6. 

Thursday’s dual was a special one, as the Cowboys got a chance to wrestle against Salida in Western Colorado University's gym before the Mountaineers dueled the Chadron State Eagles. A lot of the kids stayed after to watch the college dual, creating a powerful experience for the wrestlers and the fans.

“You know, it was really an awesome opportunity for us to wrestle at Paul Wright Gym, and so it was really cool that Charlie Pipher and the administration for Western let us do that right before their duel,” said Seijo.

The boys won their dual 59-24 over Salida. The boys won all but two of the matches that they wrestled on Thursday and also earned 30 points via forfeit.

Starting at 150 pounds, Hagyn Athey was pinned by his opponent after 1:55. Rylan Holler was pinned after 1:01 while wrestling at 157 pounds. Owen Smejkal pinned his opponent after 1:04 at 190 pounds. At 215 pounds, Gavin Smejkal pinned his opponent after 1:31. Freddie Bernabe pinned his opponent after 1:15 while wrestling at 285 pounds. Braedyn Anderson won by a 15-0 technical fall at 113 pounds and Zach Benson pinned his opponent after 48 seconds. 

Zayne Benson at 106 pounds, Nolan Witzel at 120 pounds, Bentley Patrick at 126 pounds, Cody Casebolt at 132 pounds and Julian Patrick at 138 pounds all won by forfeit. 

The girls did not dual the Spartans on Thursday. Neither team was able to provide wrestlers that matched up at a specific weight so the dual didn’t happen. The girls did travel to Walsenburg on Friday for their final regular season action.

The Cowboys placed seventh at the 2026 Lady Panther Invitational out of the 24 teams that competed. Roxie and Romie Uhrig each placed first and McKayla Singer placed third. Freshman Tea Waggoner was held out of the tournament due to injury. While her injury is in no way serious, she was kept out due to extreme caution as the teams head to regionals next week, said girls head coach Mike Dawson. 

Singer wrestled at 135 pounds, taking third place and scoring 20 points after going 3-1. She received a first-round bye and won her first match, pinning her opponent after 1:36. Singer lost her next match in the semifinal by a 9-4 decision, but bounced back and pinned her next opponent after 4:06 to make the third place match. She won by fall again after 2:25 to take third place. Singer finished the regular season with a 13-7 record.

Roxie Uhrig wrestled at 145 pounds, placed first and scored 28 points after going 3-0. She pinned her first opponent after 18 seconds, her second opponent after 1:16 and her third opponent after 49 seconds. Roxie Uhrig finished with a 31-2 record in the regular season.

Romie Uhrig wrestled at 155 pounds, placed first and scored 30 points after going 4-0. Like her sister, she pinned all of her opponents. She pinned her first opponent after 40 seconds, her seconds after 38 seconds, her third after 2:59 and her final opponent after 3:43. Romie Uhrig finished the regular season with a 31-5 record.

Now the boys and the girls teams are getting ready for the CHSAA 3A Region 4 tournament that will be held at North Fork High School for the girls and Fort Lupton High School for the boys. Both tournaments will take place on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 13-14.

Dawson said the girls are peaking at the right time and are ready for the postseason. 

“I think our tournament last weekend at Walsenburg was tougher than we're going to see at regionals,” said Dawson. “Everybody's really wrestling well. We're pleased with where we're at. We just got to climb the rest of that mountain.”

Seijo echoed a similar sentiment, emphasizing that the regional tournament is not a big tournament by size, but rather a big tournament by importance.

“There are only teams in our classification, and so it's trying to make sure that we don't make it bigger than what it is and making sure that their emotions are in check and that they just go out there and wrestle,” said Seijo. “They're all young and hungry and ready to go wrestle in the postseason.”

Both teams are excited for the opportunity to wrestle in their respective regional tournaments and each wrestler is hoping to qualify for the state tournament in Denver the following weekend.