After COVID interruption, MV wrestling back on the mat

WINDOW ROCK

Like most teams, the Monument Valley wrestling team has dealt with adversity.

The Mustangs are coming off a year without ever getting on the mat, and during the current season, they went through COVID-19 pauses.

Despite that, the Mustangs earned a fifth-place finish at Saturday’s Division IV, Section II meet in Winslow.

“I think our boys’ team has had a really successful season,” MV coach Clyde McBride said. “We got shut down for awhile with COVID, but I think they did remarkable.”

At the state-qualifying meet on Saturday, the Mustangs got six wrestlers to state, headed by the first-place finishes from Matthew Curley and Cauy Betony.

“I would have liked a couple more in there that I thought should have had a shot,” he said. “They lost some close matches that would have taken them to state.”

In addition to those six male wrestlers, McBride will also have three girls vying for a state medal.

The Division IV boys meet and the Division I all-girls wrestling tournament starts on Friday and ends on Saturday at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

The qualifiers for the girls’ team include a pair of sectional champions: Jennifer Alcott and Lorilee Begay.

The two seniors won their respective weight classes on Feb. 5, with Alcott taking the 100-pound crown while Begay winning the 145-pound bracket.

“They were state placers two years ago, so they know what the state tournament is like,” McBride said of his two section champs. “I expect both of them to be in the finals Saturday night.”

This year, the Mustangs will also have sophomore Melanie Kescoli wrestling at state at 185 pounds.

“This was her first year of high school wrestling,” McBride said. “She comes from that Tuni family, so she’s really tough.”

The Arizona Interscholastic Association released the state brackets on Sunday, and Alcott earned the No. 5 seed.

“I know that we got robbed with Jennifer’s seeding,” the MV coach said. “She’s seeded No. 5, and she beat No. 4 girl. They’re supposed to use head-to-head criteria, but they didn’t.”

McBride said Kescoli opens the tournament with No. 2 seed Nylease Yzagere of Peoria High School.

“If we can get by her, you better watch out for Melanie because she’s going all the way to the finals,” McBride said.

McBride said he has high hopes for his two boys’ sectional champions.

Curley is seeded second in the 106-weight class, while Betony earned the No. 4 seed at 120 pounds.

“They’re both juniors,” McBride said, while adding that no wrestling last year may have cost Curley the top seed.

“Not being a state placer last year, that was the best he could do,” the MV coach said of Curley. “But I was very pleased with his seeding.”

Other MV state qualifiers include Joseph Rodriquez at 126, Jaron Anagal at 138, Davin Salt at 144, and Leander Tsinigine at 285.

Ganado, Tuba City, Window Rock, and Chinle got two wrestlers each in the state field, while Shonto Prep and Piñon had one each.

Tuba City got a sectional champion from Rias Merino. The freshman was crowned champion in the 113-pound weight class when his opponent Nick Curnutte of Winslow got injured at the beginning of the third period.

At 132, Hunter Merino got second for Tuba City, while the Wildcats got a runner-up finish from Dion Tsosie.

Girls’ qualifiers include the following sectional champions: Window Rock’s Esperanza Day (107), Ganado’s Lyndsay Thomas (126), and Holbrook’s Sierra Aho (138).

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