On February 14-15, 11 total wrestlers – seven girls and three boys – qualified for the 2025 state tournament held at Ball Arena in Denver. Several of the Greeley West state qualifiers were new to wrestling or it was their first time qualifying for state and had the chance to wrestle in the Ball Arena for a chance to win the state championship.
The qualifiers on the girls side were seniors Grace Cunningham, Natalie Chairez Salazar, Gianna Alirez, Belle Bailey, juniors Abrianna Torrez, and freshmen Allison and Angie Diosdado. The boys that qualified for wrestling were, senior Julian Chavez Valverde, sophomore Alfonso Aragon, and junior Marcello Marquez.
To be able to qualify for state, you need to be able to win a certain amount of duals. For some, this was a first-time experience passing it from regionals to state like senior Grace Cunningham. This year Cunningham decided to try something different for her senior year and wanted to participate in wrestling just for a new experience. “Just making it to state as a first year wrestler was a great experience. It made me nervous just getting to wrestle at the Ball Arena under all the lights,” Cunningham said
For others, this was the first year of qualifying for state. Sophomore Alfonso Aragon worked hard and was given the opportunity to qualify and wrestle for state this year and next year, he plans on working harder and working towards placing at least Top 5 in state. “I think for the first time competing in something like that, I did really well. Under all the bright lights it definitely was more stressful to compete and focus,” Aragon said.
Lastly, some made their final year their best year and made 4th overall in state. To get to this point you have to work hard at what you do and push yourself and give yourself those goals to be able to achieve them in the future. Chaves Valverde was able to accomplish this for his senior year and was able to finish it off with a great victory. “I made a lot more progress this year, especially moving up to 5A and wrestling bigger and better people. It proved something to myself,” Chaves Valverde said.
Overall, this season was a great season for the Greeley West Spartans. They were able to put in great effort and work at wrestling and had an amazing season. Next year holds greater opportunities and more players to present to chances for the team to build off of and become a stronger team all together and hopefully become one percent better than last year.
