Grand Junction Central’s Andrez Martinez competes in the first round of the 2016 state wrestling tournament at Pepsi Center. More photos from the first day of state wrestling. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
DENVER — For schools on the Western Slope, advancing to the 2016 state wrestling tournament turned out to be a cake-walk compared to physically arriving at Pepsi Center.
A Monday rock slide closed I-70 through Glenwood Canyon, forcing schools located west of Gyspsum to take some unconventional detours to reach Pepsi Center for the start of Thursday’s tournament. Not everyone was terribly affected, but the winding roads of the U.S. highways certainly added a different twist to this year’s tournament.
“It wasn’t too bad,” Paoina 106-pounder Eli Etter said. “We just had to go around (I-70). Went down through Gunnison and it only took us a few more minutes.”
Etter had no interest in any detours in the Class 2A 106-pound bracket as he pinned Buena Vista’s Joey Oversole. Oversole held a 2-0 lead in the third period before Etter came away with the fall.
But not everyone was as fortunate as Etter. Coal Ridge’s Jacx Power fell in the first round of the 3A 160-pound bracket. It was at least an extra 90 minutes of travel for Power to get around the rock slide.
Schools in the Grand Junction area were faced with an extra two hours on the commute. They were forced away from the convenience of I-70 and instead went south to Montrose and took U.S. 50 through Gunnison and before jumping on U.S. 285 north to Denver.
“It was about a six-hour drive,” Central freshman Andrez Martinez said. “It kind of wore us out. (We lost) just some energy.”
But Martinez didn’t come away empty-handed. He battled to a 5-2 decision victory over Castle View’s Adrian Marquez in the 5A 113-pound bracket. The detour may have caused some travel issues, but as Martinez is a freshman, he simply doesn’t know anything different when it comes to making the trek to state.
And he wasn’t going to let that be the reason that he didn’t come away with a win.
“It just makes me realize that if I work harder and I’m able to get the energy back, I’ll be able to get through it,” he said.
The southern route seemed to be the route of choice for the Grand Junction area. Fruita Monument took the same path, opting to head over Monarch Pass after a two-week stretch of good weather than heading north through Steamboat Springs which would’ve clocked the drive at closer to seven hours.
“I know Gunnison,” Wildcats coach Dan Vanhoose said. “I know the roads, I don’t know if there was any benefit other than saving us 45 minutes to an hour.”
Thursday, the Colorado Department of Transportation said that it was likely that I-70 would remain closed through the weekend. If that turns out to be the case, the road back home for these same teams would still be altered by around two hours.
“I heard today that it might be six or seven hours (to get home on I-70), so we’ll just go the other way,” Vanhoose said. “Hopefully it’ll be a fun ride home with some medals.”