WRESTLING

Cavemen finish fourth at Southwest Duals

Current-Argus Staff
Carlsbad's Adrian Flaco won eight of his nine matches at the Rio Rancho Southwest Duals.

RIO RANCHO, N.M. – The Carlsbad wrestling team got off to a strong start on the second day of the Rio Rancho Southwest Duals Saturday and ended up capturing fourth place overall out of 16 teams.

“That’s exactly what I was projecting,” coach Ryan Salcido said. “I’m super proud of my kids. They just came out and fought and fought.”

The Cavemen dispatched El Paso’s Del Valle High 48-30 and Deming 45-30, but lost to La Cueva (36-24) and lost back-to-back matches against Kansas' Blue Valley (42-27, 36-28).

“A lot of these teams like to score points early. We’ve spent some time learning how to fight those hands off and be really good at it. That’s why we put up the numbers we did,” Salcido said. “Those are primetime teams. We’re so young. They’re coming out, and they’re just banging with the big guys. They’re just getting it done.”

Salcido said Carlsbad ended up fourth overall based on the following criteria: Win-loss counts, score differentials per match and the total number of team takedowns.

“It’s crazy complicated how it works out,” Salcido said.

Each wrestler competed in nine matches over two days.

Sophomore Cody Wood won all nine of his matches, while senior Adrian Flaco won eight of his nine matches.

Senior Kyle Mallett and freshman RJ Baca each won seven matches. Eighth grader Justin Wood, freshman Fabian Padilla and junior Noah Leija each won six matches.

Juniors Shawn Martin and Christian Flaco, sophomore Mateo Messer and eighth grader Mason Box each won five matches. Junior Kyron Dobson won three matches.

“I haven’t seen those numbers in a really, really, really long time,” Salcido said. “That’s going to be such a huge advantage for us going into to next week, as far as the seeding meeting goes. I can’t put it into words what I feel and how good it feels to have those numbers presented in front of me.”

Carlsbad will participate in the Las Cruces Tournament next Friday and Saturday.

CARLSBAD 48, DEL VALLE 30

CARLSBAD 45, DEMING 30

LA CUEVA 36, CARLSBAD 24

BLUE VALLEY 42, CARLSBAD 27

BLUE VALLEY 36, CARLSBAD 28

Up next for Carlsbad: next Friday and Saturday at Las Cruces Tournament