Chinle wrestlers end season on good note
Navajo Times | Adron Gardner Chinle Wildcat Zackary Ute, right, wrestles River Valley Dust Devil Luke Regan during the Arizona Division III state wrestling tournament. Ute finished sixth in the 138-pound division.
Navajo Times | Adron Gardner
Chinle Wildcat Zackary Ute, right, wrestles River Valley Dust Devil Luke Regan during the Arizona Division III state wrestling tournament. Ute finished sixth in the 138-pound division.
PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz.
While competing in one of the toughest classifications, the Chinle wrestling team went a perfect 2-for-2 at last weekend’s Arizona Division III state wrestling tournament.
The Wildcats had two wrestlers that made the podium with senior Zachary Ute placing sixth in the 138-pound weight class while junior Isiah Towne took up fourth-place honors in the 182-pound division.
“In math we’re 100 percent and you can’t do any better than that,” Chinle coach Kenneth Safford said. “I am really proud of them. I hope other kids get inspired and when they do come to practice they will see it’s worthy.”
Safford said with a tough section it was hard to get kids qualified for state but he said they made a lot of improvements.
“We had to compete with the upper level wrestlers in our section,” he said.
In his third appearance at state, Ute lost his opening round match in a fall to Tempe junior Jaren Savage, the eventual second-place finisher.
Ute recovered and won three consecutive matches to earn a spot in the medal rounds. He lost his next match to Chanse Rios of Safford in a fall before he wrestled Dalton Davis of Flagstaff for fifth place.
“It was going good for me but I got myself in a bad position,” said Ute, who lost a 7-2 decision to Davis.
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