St. Johns wrestling team shows its dominance: Diné junior among sectional champs

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

WINSLOW, Ariz. – The St. Johns wrestling team exhibited its dominance during the Arizona Interscholastic Association Division IV, Section II wrestling tournament on Saturday.

St. Johns had 10 of 13 wrestlers make the finals in their respective brackets. With that, St. Johns won the sectional team crown with 272.5 points, which was 36.5 points better than runner-up Mogollon. Monument Valley placed third with 125.5 points followed by Page (102.5) and Holbrook (74).

“There’s a brotherhood,” longtime St. Johns coach Brandon Crosby of the program. “Most of these guys wrestled together since fourth grade, and they got through some hard things together; we’ve developed a tradition and we’re honored to be a part of it.”

Half of the finalists were crowned champions, which included Diné wrestler Vincent Tullie, who has family roots in the Page area. Tullie went 3-0 and won the 150-pound weight bracket at the sectional tournament, which was hosted by Winslow High School.

“He’s wrestled for us since he was a little kid,” Crosby said of Tullie. “He spent a lot of time going to Tucson wrestling down there, and his family made sacrifices for his wrestling. We’re looking forward for him to get after it this year in the finals.”

At the sectional tournament, Tullie beat Chinle’s Truman Bahe in the finals with a fall, as he improved his record at 38-8 overall heading into the AIA Division IV state wrestling tournament, which gets underway in Phoenix on Friday the Arizona Veteran Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

“I was just looking to tire him out the first period,” Tullie said of championship bout. “I just stuck with it, and I worked him with a lot of my moves.”

This is Tullie’s third trip to state tournament as he reached the semifinals of the 144-pound bracket in his freshman and sophomore seasons. Both times he dropped into the consolation bracket and placed fourth overall.

“I want to do the best I can and work my hardest and just work my way up to the championship,” Tullie said. “I feel like I’ve grown a lot. I’ve been working a lot on my technique, and my footwork.”

For this year’s state championship, Tullie is expecting stiffer competition wrestling at 150 pounds.

“The guys are heavier and bigger,” he said of his new weight class. “They have a lot more muscle and I’m going to use my speed to my advantage.”

The other finalists that placed first at the sectional tournament include junior Reese Crosby (63-1 overall) at 144, senior Jose Pena (31-10) at 157, senior Trace Nielsen (58-1) at 190 and senior Carson Thomas (53-5) at 215.

The sectional runner-up wrestlers consist of sophomore Ryker Musgrove (47-15) at 120, sophomore Mason Ellington (26-17) at 126, senior Desmond Brown (29-24) at 132, sophomore Gavin Gaviria (19-7) at 165 and senior Ammon Jessop (41-12) at 175.

The other state qualifiers for St. Johns include senior Keyton Musgrove at 138, freshman Henry Sundahl at 113 and freshman Cole Heap at 106. Musgrove and Sundahl placed third at the sectional tournament while Heap took fourth.

The St. Johns coach has high hopes for Reese Crosby and Trace Nielson to win state crowns.

“Reese is a returning state champion and he’s only been beaten once this year,” said Brandon Crosby, who has coached at St. Johns for 32 years, including the last 20 as the head coach. “Trace Nielsen has only one loss, too, and he should win state.”

Last year, the St. Johns team finished fourth at state with 134 points behind state champ Santa Cruz Valley (229.5), Mogollon (166.5) and Yuma Catholic (141.5).

For this year’s tournament, Brandon says Morenci is the favorite to win the team state crown while Payson, Yuma Catholic and Santa Cruz should be in the mix.

“We’re hoping we can get in there and fight for that first, second place spot,” Brandon Crosby said. “Morenci, Payson, Yuma Catholic and Santa Cruz are great teams, so it’s gonna be tough all the way around.”

Get instant access to our many e-edition subscriptions HERE at our Navajo Times Store.

 

---