Photo by Will Cornelius

Berthoud’s Addie Davidson drives Victoria Bottner of Holy Family High School to the mat during the Diny Pickert Invitation on Jan. 20 in Berthoud.

By Will Cornelius
The Surveyor

It was a one-two finish for Berthoud wrestling last weekend at the Diny Pickert Invitational (DPI) hosted at Berthoud High School in the Rusty Mathena Gymnasium.

“We’re one of the top schools now for wrestling,” said senior Bella Priddy after the tournament. Priddy won three matches by pinfall on her way to capturing first place in the 120-lbs weight class. “It feels good, to be honest. Just seeing the improvement that we’ve done from the beginning of the season,” she said about the progress the team has made as a whole.

Last season as a junior Priddy was one of the few wrestlers on the Berthoud squad who had ever wrestled before. This season she has competition in her own weight bracket. At the DPI, Priddy bested fellow Spartans Carly Van Dorin and Alexis Novell on her way to first place.

The DPI tournament had a lower turnout than in years past, forcing many Spartans to face teammates in bouts. Best friends off the mat, sophomores Lexie Griffin and Sadie Long faced each other in the only 130-lbs match of the day. “It helps build both her and my mindset in wrestling,” said Griffin about facing Long. In a three-round battle that went back and forth, Griffin won in a 15-13 decision. “I feel like us as teammates we push each other even harder, like even past the limit that we think we can push each other,” she said after the match. “At the end of it all, we just come out even stronger.”

It has been a meteoric rise for the girls wrestling program over the past month at Berthoud. On Jan. 13 the squad won a tournament in Wiggins, a major milestone for the team in only its second year. “I think the big factor in that is the confidence and to be successful in wrestling, you got to have confidence,” said Head Girls Wrestling Coach Jim Sanchez. After a decade break from coaching, Sanchez said this season has been one of the best in over 20 years of coaching. “I love wrestling and I love working with young people and these girls have just been amazing.”

In addition to Priddy and Griffin, Ava Vigil (105-lbs), Jayden Bird (110-lbs) and Miah Ardis (125-lbs) also won their weight classes.

In the boys tournament, Berthoud finished second overall and had two of its seniors capture first in a tournament for the first time ever. “Feels pretty good because I haven’t gotten first at a tournament before, so it feels good to finally win one for once, especially in my senior year,” said

Trevor Moore who won three matches by pinfall to place first in the 215-lbs division.

In the 165-lbs classification fellow senior Uriah Chacon also captured first place. “It was the first time getting first at any tournament and at a home tournament too that felt pretty good,” he said about the win.

Focus and expectations now turn to regionals and hopefully for some, a spot at the state tournament in Denver this February. “Obviously I expect to win it, but I got to stay humble, I got to keep working hard,” Chacon said with a laugh. “We feel good about these next couple weeks,” said Josh Galindo, the head coach for the boys program. “Now’s the time that they’ve got to start turning it on.”

On Wednesday, both the girls and boys wrestling teams held their senior night wrestling meets at Berthoud High School. Regionals for both sides will be on Feb. 9.