Area wrestlers end season with state titles

PHOENIX – The Arizona high school state wrestling tournament crowned a plethora of champions on Saturday night.

Of the seven area grapplers that made the finals, four finished off the season with a state title.

Red Mesa sophomore Rheanna Tree secured the school’s first-ever girls state crown while Monument Valley’s Joseph Rodriguez ended a 23-year drought for the Mustang program.

The Snowflake Lobos left the state tournament with two champions as the Kinlicheenie brothers – Devin and Troy – dedicated their titles to their late uncle Stetson Begay.

“We lost our uncle a couple of weeks ago and so we did this for him,” said Devin, who successfully defended his 215-pound title at the Division III level.

In his quest to repeat as champion, the younger Kinlicheenie brother finished out the season with a 55-0 record as he won all but two of those matches by pins.

At the state tournament Devin recorded three pins in his early matches. In the finals the top-seeded Snowflake wrestler scored an 8-0 major decision over Arizona College Prep’s Cayden Gibson.

“I could have pinned him, but he was kind of blowing up on the bottom,” Devin said. “The goal was to pin-out for the whole tournament and dominate.

“I did dominate him, but I could have done better,” he added.

At 138, Troy secured his first state title after coming up short the three previous years. In those past state tournaments, the older Kinlicheenie sibling lost in the semifinals as he took third in both his freshman and sophomore seasons and fifth his junior year.

“I’m just grateful for this opportunity,” said Troy, who entered the tournament as the top seed.

“There was some pressure to win it, but I just tried to have fun,” he said.

In the title bout, Troy wrestled Deer Valley’s Tyler Metcalf for the second time this season. Troy upped his season record to 52-1 after earning a 4-2 decision over the Deer Valley wrestler.

“It was kind of a hard match because I wrestled him earlier in the season, so he knew what I was going to do,” he said.

The two Kinlicheenie brothers were the only state placers for the Snowflake team that qualified seven wrestlers, with Troy being the only senior.

“Every kid that came out here scored team points for us,” Snowflake coach Ken Owens said. “We had a lot of kids that made their first state tournament. They went 1-2, but they wrestled hard, and they competed hard.”

Snowflake placed 11th overall with 67 points, with most of those points coming from the Kinlicheenie siblings.

“They’re both the pace-setters of the team,” Owens said of the duo. “They’re the first ones on the pull-up bar as soon as practice is over and they’re the first ones running sprints after practice, but they’re not alone.

“If you were in our practice room last week, we had our 106-pounder wrestle with Devin at 215 and we had Troy at 138 wrestle with our 126-pounder,” he added. “And they were rotating the kids, and they’re making every kid better. That is what people don’t get to see.”

Monument Valley

In his final prep season, MV’s Joseph Rodriguez wiped away some heartbreaks he endured the previous two years.

In his sophomore season, Rodriguez placed third at the state meet and last year he came up short in the state finals.

The MV senior left the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in a better mood this year as Rodriguez took home the Division IV 126-pound state crown.

“It really didn’t hit me until I saw my teammates crying,” Rodriguez said. “It hit me then when I realized that I actually won. I just worked really hard for this.

“You know, when I lost my sophomore year it really hurt,” he added. “Last year I got really close and this year I made a huge commitment and it all worked out.”

Rodriguez finished his season at 41-4. He won his first three state matches with pins and in the finals, he scored a 9-0 major decision over Blue Ridge’s Spencer Brandon.

“I’ve never wrestled him before and I just went into the match with a game plan and I executed,” Rodriguez said. “I wanted to get him on his back, get as much back points, and keep the match at my own pace.”

Before this year, the last state champion for MV came during the 1991 season when Harlan Herder won his state title.

“Honestly, it’s unbelievable that it took so long to win another state title for our school,” Rodriguez said. “I’m just excited to go home and celebrate this with the people that I love.”

The Mustangs also had senior Davin Salt make the finals as he finished behind state champ Breck Williams of Morenci in the 157-pound weight class.

Williams won the match with a fall in the opening period.

“He was pretty tough,” Salt said of the Morenci wrestler. “I was hoping to win the state title but I’m very thankful for the youth wrestling clubs that I joined when I was younger like Rez Wrestling and Sheep Came Wrestling.

“They’re the reasons why I’ve got this far,” he added.

Salt finished the year at 34-4 overall.

Red Mesa

Last season Red Mesa’s Lyla Tree made school history by placing fifth at the Arizona all-girls state wrestling tournament.

This year’s tournament had two divisions and Layla’s younger sister, Rheanna, took home Red Mesa’s first state crown in said sport.

Rheanna entered the state tournament unseeded and although she raised a few eyebrows, her coach knew that she was capable of winning this year’s 126-pound weight class.

In the finals Rheanna pinned Talitha DuBose of Marcos De Niza just as the first period ended.

“She wrestled with pure emotion,” Red Mesa coach Frederick Boone said. “As her coach, I’m very proud of her. She had me in tears and what she did was fantastic.

“I don’t know how to explain the feeling, but that was a proud moment for all of us,” he said.

Prior to the state tournament, Rheanna (24-4) took second at the state qualifying meet at Payson High School during the sectional meet. Boone said she was expected to win that tournament and be seeded for this year’s bracket.

“Everybody was expecting her to win,” the Red Mesa coach said. “But when she lost, I told her that we still have state. She just had to clear her mind and get ready for state.”

And while that may have left a chip on her shoulder, Boone felt that last year’s state tournament is what pushed her.

“She lost out last year and she watched all of the finals from the stands and that is what drove her,” he said.

In addition to Rheanna, Boone also coached Lyla at the state meet as the older sibling lost her final to Peoria’s Nylease Yzagere in the 185-pound title match by a fall.

“I thought she had it, but she lost to the state champion from last year,” Boone said of Yzagere.

The two wrestlers entered the final undefeated as Lyla dropped her first match of the season. She finished the year at 29-1 in her final season donning the Red Mesa jersey.

“That was a tough loss for her, but Lyla set the bar for our girls wrestling program,” Boone said. “She’s the first one to make history by placing at state last year. She really worked hard day-in and day-out.”

Page

Page sophomore Conner Peterson made the finals in his 120-pound weight class, losing the state title to Jiovanni Chavez of Santa Cruz Valley Union.

Chavez scored a 6-1 decision over the Page wrestler.

“Conner wrestled really well in his first three matches to make the finals,” Page coach Kyran Keisling said. “I think the bright lights were just too bright for him. He just kind of didn’t let it flow like he usually does.

“He’s a scrambling type of wrestler,” he added. “He’s a really dynamic wrestler and he just got a little tentative. This will burn in him, so I expect him to start training for next year.”

The Sand Devils qualified nine wrestlers for state, but before the tournament started, they lost two grapplers. Keisling’s heavyweight got hurt during the sectional meet and he another one didn’t make weight.

On the girls team, the Sand Devils placed seventh overall with 46 points. The Page team brought four wrestler to state with three placing headed by junior Mya Tsinnijinnie’s fourth place finish at 138. Seniors Trina Bennett (120) and Ilina Robbins (152) both took sixth.

“We finished in the top 10 so that’s not bad,” Page girls coach Steve Smith said. “My girls really worked hard this season, that’s for sure.

“Mya didn’t qualify for state last year and so for her to get fourth this year is awesome.”

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