Eaton Wrestling headed down to the Pepsi Center to compete for a state title Feb. 15-17.  Eaton led the tournament with a strong team of 12 wrestlers competing during the first day. Heart and soul was put into every match that the Reds participated in.

Eight wrestlers placed to help improve the team score in order to get second as a team at the state championships. The last time Eaton placed as a team was in 2007 and received third place. The head coach, Toni Mustari said, “I was excited, I think our ultimate goal was to get all 14 guys down there. 12 guys is an awesome accomplishment, it has never been done before. I think a lot of the guys have gotten better. Josue and Alhan have improved the most over this year. Alhan because he took last year off. From his sophomore year until now he’s gotten a lot better, just his work ethic. Same thing with Josue. Josue’s work ethic and dedication to the sport has made him better.” This year was the first time ever in the school’s history that Eaton Wrestling placed second as a team with points of 145.

David Pringle (18) placed sixth, Braeson Lewis (18) and Ty Garnhart (19) placed fifth, Jake Sandau (18) and Hayden Gavette (18) placed fourth, Jeremy Murano (19) and Dylan Yancey (19) placed third, and Ariel Rodriguez (18) was state runner-up.

Gavette said, “State was awesome. We had a lot of fun and were successful at the same time. I don’t think we would have wrestled any better and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

With a strong bond, the team put every ounce of heart and energy they had into the matches and cherished the times they had together at state wrestling.

Sandau said, “ State wrestling is the most fun I have ever had in athletics, like the way the team bonds and acts like a family is unlike anything else. I’m going to miss hanging out with all of my brothers and just doing our thing and making a name for Eaton Wrestling.”

Heavy hearted, Rodriguez was focused and determined when he entered into the championship match against his opponent from Berthoud High School, Austyn Binkly. Rodriguez gave everything he had in his last match of his high school career, but came up short 8-4. Rodriguez said, “Going into the the championship match I was nervous, but my mind set was ‘it is just another match on a bigger stage’, I dedicated the last part of my season to Kennedi because I knew she loved supporting not only me but the team.”

The seniors wrapped up their career of four years as an Eaton Wrestler and appreciated the time that was put in and the relationships that were developed throughout the years. Gavette said, “I’ll mostly miss the brotherhood and hanging out with the boys during practice and competitions, especially the late-night roast sessions and the full-team wall ball games.” Many of the seniors have participated in wrestling since their freshman year. Rodriguez said, “ I’ll miss the most about wrestling is definitely going to be my teammates and coaches because they have been through it all with me the past four years and we’ve grown up wrestling together.”