Eaton High School has pushed its way into history as one of Colorado’s top sports high schools, due to its winning culture. They are very familiar to taking walks of champions down the halls and police escorts out of town. Especially wrestling.
The Reds had seven wrestlers who made it onto the podium. Ethan Deal, a senior at Eaton, wrestled at 138 pounds and finished fifth at state. Braxton Smith (29), Louden Kindsfater (26) and Dylan Paris (26) all took bronze at state. Smith wrestled at 113-pounds, Kindsfater at 126-pounds and Paris at 144-pounds.
Parker Wickam (29) had a good freshman season, going 37-3 at 132-pounds. Wickam said, “I knew our team could pull it off if our people on the backside could really pull through… We got some big wins and so that sealed off for us and allowed us to wrestle freely in the finals.”
Paxton Pettinger (27) wrestled at 165-pounds this season, making it to state where he beat the defending state champion and won state. Pettinger, last season, wrestled at 157-pounds and finished second. Pettinger was everything but discouraged at this second place. Pettinger said, “Last season left a really sour taste in my mouth, I never wanted to feel that feeling ever again, so I started training hard and just did the right things. I knew I had to commit to get it done,” Pettinger did in fact “get it done.”
Blake Hawkins (26) won the 120-pound final, making him a back-to-back state champ after last season’s 113-pound state championship. Hawkins said, “It’s cool to end on top; it’s always the goal to win a team title as well as an individual, so it was great seeing everyone do well. It creates momentum.” Hawkins has signed with Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska to continue his wrestling career at the college level. When asked what it takes to become a 2-time state champion, Hawkins said, “It takes a lot. I have worked really hard since I was about six years old, traveling around to get the best competition to get as good as possible. It’s just a lot about doing the little things right.”
Across the board, Eaton won state with 149 points, finishing first in 3A. Second place was Alamosa with only 119.5 points.
The present of Eaton Wrestling is bright with Paxton Pettinger entering his senior year and the future is just as bright with young talent in Parker Wickam and Braxton Smith.
