Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
The Tucumcari wrestling team went 2-2 on during a series of dual meets Saturday at Moriarty despite giving up forfeits in four weight classes due to departures, injury or illness.
Tucumcari coach Eddie Encinias didn’t have complete scores but said his Rattlers lost by 30 points to Robertson, defeated St. Michael’s by 40 points, defeated Newcomb 39-36 and lost to Del Norte by one point.
Robertson, St. Michael’s and Newcomb all are in Tucumcari’s district. The Rattlers’ record is 6-5 in dual matches this season.
“In the lower weights, we got a bunch of key wins,” Encinias said. “Some of the losses to Robertson, we’ll get those guys at the district open when we have it here. We matched up pretty decent with them; we just made some mistakes.”
Khobie Salvador, a senior heavyweight, left the team during the Christmas break. Adrian Villegas, who wrestled at 195 pounds, broke his hand during a meet earlier in the week and is out for the season. Charles Prieto, a senior, was out with an injury at 132 pounds.
Another top wrestler, Isiah Garcia, tested positive for COVID-19 and was sidelined last week. Another wrestler didn’t compete Saturday due to a relative’s funeral.
Amarillo meet
The Tucumcari squad won two of three matches Jan. 4 at Amarillo High School in the Rattlers’ first action after the Christmas break.
The Rattlers defeated Clovis 58-14 and the Amarillo junior varsity 60-12. The only Tucumcari loss was to the Amarillo High School varsity, by a 52-32 score.
Tucumcari’s best performances came from Josh Pacheco (145 pounds) and Billy Otero (120), who each went 3-0 that day. Reyes Garcia also went 2-0 before being sidelined with a sore shoulder.
Encinias praised the performance of Dezmon Pacheco (126 pounds), who went 2-1 and lost only to a wrestler who finished third in his weight class in Texas last season. Nick Romero (113) also went 2-1, losing only to a third-place finisher last year in the Lone Star State.
MiKayla Klinger (150) also went 2-1 during the meeting during the girls competition.
He also praised Nathan Aragon at 220, whom Encinias said “he’s really wrestling tough at his weight class.”
Tucumcari competed without athletes in several weight classes.
“We had to forfeit four weights against Amarillo High,” Encinias said. “That’s 24 points. But our whole team looked really good. Everyone looked a lot better after the break.
“We’ve got three district matches coming up, and it’s going to be hard to win them because we don’t have enough bodies. But that happens sometimes.”
On Saturday, the Rattlers have a series of dual matches against Fort Wingate and Shiprock Northwest. A meet Thursday at Bushland, Texas, was canceled and will be replaced the following week with a meet at Bernalillo.
