While the high school wrestling season ultimately comes down to what each team and each individual wrestler can do at the regional and state tournaments, the importance of regular season runup to those two big events cannot be overstated.

Photo by ACP Media – Berthoud’s Tanner Coble wrestling in a match earlier this season. Coble and the Spartans will celebrate senior night this Thursday at BHS and over the weekend will host the annual Diny Pickert Invitational.

The Berthoud High School wrestling squad, under the leadership of first year Head Coach Josh Galindo has turned in one strong performance after another this season. In their most recent event – a six team dual tournament held last weekend at University High School in Greeley, the Spartans claimed first place in team score, besting Wiggins, Centaurus, Severance and University. The Spartans did suffer a razor-thin loss, 36-35 to Limon in the first round, but wiped the mat clean in the next our duals.

Galindo has maintained all season long the strength of his squads camaraderie and kinship, stressing how the more experienced wrestlers have worked tirelessly to bring the younger, lesser experienced players up to speed. The goal, from the very beginning, was for the each individual wrestler to make steady progress throughout the season, honing their skills and approach, both in the mental and physical aspects of the very demanding sport, with the goal of peaking in mid-February for the regional and state championship tournaments.

Junior Wil Moneypenny, who qualified for state in each of the last two seasons, earning a place on the podium both times, has worked his way to 20-4 record on the season and is currently the No. 3 ranked wrestler in Class 3A’s 145lb division. Moneypenny handled Brennan Taylor of Severance with ease at the dual, winning a 16-1 technical fall.

Uriah Chacon, wrestling in the 160lb class against Wiggins and moving down to the 152lb division later in the day against Severance, won both matches handily. Chacon cruised to a 15-5 major decision victory over Cameron Schmidt of Wiggins and then wrestled nearly the full six minutes of regulation against Hunter Hockett of Severance before getting position and winning with a pin at 5:19 mark.

King Flaherty also picked up three convincing wins as well in 120s. Flaherty pinned James Meredith of Centaurus in just one minute and in the finial round of the day against University, was able to win with the fall after a little more work, the official time of Flaherty’s pin of Couper Payne came with just 29 seconds left in the third period at 5:31. Flaherty also pinned Marcus Trujillo of Severance in 4:14 in the fourth round of the dual tournament.

In 170s, Berthoud’s Aaron Young picked up a win over Michael Pacheco of Wiggins with a fall at 1:54. Blake Coble, wrestling in the 195lb weight class, defeated Braydon Cunningham of Centaurus in 1:41. Berthoud’s Ben Schroeder (160) defeated Barrett Payne of University with a pin in 2:48 and Jacob Montoya worked his way to a first period pin, defeating Lige Widene in 1:38 in 113s.

This Thursday evening, Berthoud will host Niwot for a dual where the team will also celebrate senior night festivities and then on Saturday will host the annual Diny Pickert Invitational, one of the more prestigious events on the regular season calendar. Senior night is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. this Thursday and the Pickert Invite will get started at 9 a.m. Saturday morning and continue throughout most of the day.