By Greg Perkins Catching up with the Roadrunner wrestling team finds the young group coached by Markos Serna and Steven Carboneau, with an overall dual record of 1-7 through their first eight matches. With COVID guidelines in place, teams this year are restricted to wrestling only in duals and each wrestler may wrestle just once a day. That guideline eliminated all of the usual large wrestling invitational meets, like the Pat Kenny Tournament usually hosted by Holbrook, this season. Those large meets would generally see kids get up to seven matches over a two-day period. This year wrestlers will go into the state tournament with less than 16 total matches in most cases. Not every weight class can compete at each dual if both teams don’t have a person in that weight class, and while individual records aren’t impacted by forfeits, overall team scores do include forfeited matches. Holbrook does not have the top four weight classes filled, leaving them at a disadvantage in the total team score even before the match begins. Holbrook dropped matches to Camp Verde, 56-18; Bradshaw Mountain, 47-30; Round Valley, 27-24; St. Johns, 66-18; Mogollon, 45-12; Winslow, 43-27; and Northwest Christian, 47-21. Their one victory thus far this season came over Joseph City, 36-18. Individually for the Roadrunners, Isaiah Aguilera is 7-0; Judah Pack, 2-3; Jason Ramirez, 5-1; Josh Pack, 2-1; Hunter Love, 2-3; Daniel Montijo, 2-0; Marcus Oberriter, 2-3; Isaac Martinez, 2-5; Jacob Richards, 2-4; and Jacob Yazzie is 0-1. Holbrook also has three girls wrestling, Shay Sands, Samara Kennedy and Sierra Aho but they will have their own state tournament beginning March 5 and 6. The girls do compete against some boys, but those matches do not count for their individual standings. The good news for Holbrook is that all D IV wrestlers will automatically qualify for the state tournament this year since no sectional meet is being held for that level. The state tournament is scheduled for March 16 and 17 at Poston Butte High School.
