Young San Juan boys wrestling opens season with strong week in Aztec and Panguitch

by Art Adair
Contributing Writer
The San Juan High School boys wrestling team traveled to Aztec, New Mexico this past Wednesday, December 3 to open their season against the Tigers.
The Broncos, with a lineup featuring many young wrestlers, faced off against the returning New Mexico 4A state champions and took their lumps, losing 64-18.
Despite the tough team loss, San Juan wrestlers Miken Keith, Thomas Harden, and Porter Keith all picked up strong wins by fall. 
The team closed out the week with a long trip to Panguitch, UT Friday and Saturday, December 5-6 for the Panguitch Invitational.
The Broncos performed well at the tournament, coming away with an eighth-place team finish out of 28 teams, scoring 360 points.
Porter Keith, after missing most of last year with an injury, came out with a vengeance. The senior won three matches by decision and three by fall, including his finals matchup. Porter showed he will be a force to be reckoned with this year in the 2A classification.
San Juan Head Coach Shane Musselman commented, “We had a bunch of boys wrestle very well, but the standout was definitely Porter Keith who had his season cut short last year with a knee injury in our first week.
“He came back strong, defeating several great wrestlers and getting a fall in the finals over the #5-ranked wrestler in the 2A division.”
Keith was unranked in the initial 2A preseason coaches poll, but he looks to climb into the rankings with a strong performance in Panguitch.
Another strong performance at the tournament came from senior Grady Lacy, who placed second. Lacy advanced to the finals, earning five falls and one tech fall.
Miken Keith had a strong weekend as well, finishing fourth with a 6-3 record on the weekend. Finishing in fifth place for the Bronco wrestlers were Liam Lacy and River Von Haden.
Lacy was a strong 6-2 on the weekend while Von Haden, a freshman, rattled off five straight wins before suffering his first loss and ending the tournament with a record of 7-2.
El’Myron Begay and Jayce Raisor both went 5-3 on the weekend, which was good enough for seventh-place finishes.
Other wrestlers competing in the varsity tournament were Chance Laws who went 5-3, Cian Mark finished with a record of 4-4, Ryus Blackhorse, who went 4-5, and Stan Jones got two wins of his own. 
In the junior varsity tournament San Juan saw a lot of their young freshman wrestlers flourish. Tallon McArthur came out on a mission in his first high school tournament, going 6-0, winning all of his matches by fall, and claiming first place.
Landon Turk went 4-2, placing third in his first high school action. Turk, who is new to wrestling, showed he is ready to be a force.
Adney Singer and Andre Yellow both went 4-2 on the weekend for fourth-place individual finishes. Both young wrestlers performed well on the weekend.
Other freshman wrestlers who competed, getting mat experience and quality wins on the weekend, were Kade Snyder and Ian Mark.
First-year wrestler, sophomore Kage Johnson, wrestled extremely well on the weekend, going 5-1 and placing second. First-year senior wrestler DJ Willis picked up three quality wins in his first tournament.
Following the team’s first week of action Coach Musselman stated, “We wrestled well in Aztec, but we realized we need to work on a lot of wrestling basics because we have so many new kids on the team this year.
“We saw a huge improvement this weekend as every wrestler won matches. We saw a lot that we needed to work on, but the desire to win and  the grit you need as a wrestler were starting to show up.”
The Bronco matmen will get back to action with another busy week starting on Wednesday, December 10 with the JV boys attending the Rumble in the Valley at Monument Valley High School.
On Thursday, December 11 the full team heads to Montrose, CO where they will take on Moffett County and Strasburg in dual action.
The Broncos will close the week at the Western Slope Showdown in Montrose, CO on Friday and Saturday, December 12-13. Wrestling begins at 10 a.m. on Friday and Saturday at 9 a.m.