Camp Verde wrestlers top Hopi for title at Window Rock Invite

Posted by Oree Foster | Dec 23, 2015 | Wrestling |

FORT DEFIANCE

Four Camp Verde wrestlers captured individual championships to help pace the Cowboys to the team title at the 16-team, two-day second annual Veterans’ Memorial Invitational at Window Rock Fighting Scouts Events Center in Fort Defiance last Saturday.

En route to its team title, Camp Verde outdistanced the Hopi Bruins, 63-18, in dual competition to earn the elite honor.

Camp Verde’s individual champions included Daniel White (113-pounds), Alex Casillas (120-pounds), Hayden Uhle (126-pounds) and Matt Mejia (132-pounds), who was selected Outstanding Light Weight Wrestler.

Hopi had one individual champion. Bruin Sunny Silas captured the 106-pound weight division.

“Sunny is an outstanding wrestler,” said Hopi head coach Jimmy Carl. “He is having an excellent season. He has an excellent shot of winning the state championship. He is one of the best wrestlers in the state.”

Carl said Damian Lamatuwayma, a 152-pounder, turned in an excellent performance. He said Lamatuwayma is a wrestler to watch at section meet and state meet.

“Damian has been stepping up and is turning in an excellent season,” Carl said. “He will be one of the top wrestlers at the section meet and state meet.”

Carl said the Bruins began the meet with 12 wrestlers and completed the meet with 10 wrestlers. He said injuries hampered his team.

“We have some time to heal,” he said. “We had injuries during the meet. Once the guys heal, we should continue on the right track. Once we get to the section meet, we want everybody to be healthy, eligible and ready to wrestle. We have an excellent team. We had a number of wrestlers placing in the meet. We wrestled some top schools and large schools. We showed we can compete.”