Honest question: How much do you know about Colorado wrestling? How much do you know about how awesome their state tournament has been reported to be? I didn’t know, but I was going to find out.

Saturday night, I sat and watched my third different state complete its high school season. Reared in Virginia, I saw nearly a dozen Group AAA and Group AA/A state championships. I went to two Pennsylvania state championships in Hershey while I was working for the NWCA.

The Pespi Center, home of the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and NHL’s Colorado Avalanche would give me my largest finals crowd for the 2010 CHSAA State Finals.

I wasn’t incredibly amazed by the size of the crowd on Friday for the quartefinals and semifinals, but I knew I was in for a sight when I drive into the Pepsi Center lot and park roughly a quarter-mile (probably more) from the arena. Compound this by walking completely around the facility to get to the media entrance and you can see early, this was going to be a big crowd.

There’s 337 high schools in Colorado (according to the announced sportsmanship PSA that was read repeatedly throughout the event). The 337 are split four ways, with the smallest of the schools competing in 2A, while the largest schools are 5A.

With much of my season now focused on international and collegiate wrestling, I haven’t seen near as much high school since moving to Colorado Springs. One thing that did peak my interest in regards to this event were the local kids.

Some of you might remember the Metro Championships broadcast we did on TheMat.com at the end of January. The Metro is a local high school event with all the local Colorado Springs High Schools. USA Wrestling puts this on as a way to serve the local high school wrestling community. Well, with that, I had a chance to see a few solid kids in the finals of the Metro.

Right off the bat, the approximately 13,000 (I’m guessing, but the arena seats 18,121) were ready. The first two kids I saw win state titles were familiar. Geordan Martinez of Pine Creek (in 5A) picked up a major decision over Standley Lake’s Ryan Adams. On the far mat, there was A.J. Rees of Discovery Canyon over in 3A. Rees was leading to start the second over A.J. Salazar of Lake County. Could Colorado Springs claim two of the four state championships at 103?

Nope. Salazar pinned Rees in the second.

Josh Martinez (no relation) stepped to the mat for Pine Creek and worked through a 3-0 victory at 112 pounds. I started feeling some of the emotion running through the facility. Pine Creek didn’t quite shake things up for me, since they’re sitting on the second level about 180 degrees from my perch in the press area.

The first notable eruption that jolted me in my chair came from the fans from Pueblo South. They were celebrating the 112 4A championship by Timothy Urenda. I’m about six feet from the edge of the Pueblo South section. Pueblo’s about two hours south of Denver, probably more tonight because snow and fog have made traveling on I-25 north or south rather unenjoyable. Have I mentioned how much I hate snow?

Pueblo South wasn’t going to keep the credit for too long, as Broomfield snatched it away from them with Courtland Hacker’s victory at 119 pounds in 4A. They were notably louder for each score, including a third period score in Jerry Huff’s 125-pound final with Greeley West’s Joseph Martinez. You could hear the sigh moments later as Huff locked his hands and then gave up a reversal.

One mat over, another local product and Metro champion, Carter McElhany gave up  a takedown three seconds in to his 125-pound final against Mountain Range’s Cory Mitzke. McElhany, from Coronado, had little of it … scoring 13 straight points to pick up a 13-2 major decision. For a fleeting moment, Coronado seemed to own the arena, that was until a late throw in a tight match in 2A stole the proverbial thunder.

Bon Kinder ignited the fans from Burlington, who are sitting in most of section 120 to my left. Kinder was up three and fought off a late takedown attempt, putting Simla’s Andrew Scherrer to his back to end the match.

So at this point, I’m starting to draw some comparisons. Being from Virginia, I’ve seen (and been a part of) some of the more boisterous contingents at state tournaments. We were notorious at Poquoson. One of my teammates once said, “If I wasn’t from Poquoson, I’d hate you guys.”

I’m sure a lot of you can relate to a program (if not your own) in your state. I didn’t see that too much in Pennsylvania, because everyone’s passionate and vocal about their programs, with the pockets of “Poquoson-like” fans residing mostly in District XI.

Also in Virginia, there were the pockets from Great Bridge, Grundy and Christiansburg. In Pennsylvania, Central Dauphin’s fans were out in full force, mainly due to the magical season in 2007 (captured by the documentary Takedowns & Falls).  At least, that’s the season I’m comparing to this, the 2010 CHSAA state championships.

Arena size – Pepsi Center has both VA and PA topped. Arena intimacy? Salem Civic Center … that place doesn’t absorb sound, it amplifies it. Virginia’s AAA state championships have been at 4,000-seat Oscar Smith H.S. in Chesapeake and Robinson Secondary in/around Fairfax. Colorado’s atmosphere’s great … but as much as I like all four groups in one place, I think the most I can handle at one time is two finals. That’s more of a product of coming from the AA & A tournaments in Virginia being held side to side. Pennsylvania’s state championships could have more flavor if there wasn’t such a dry introduction and mat literally surrounded by nothing.

Here in the Pepsi Center, the four finals doesn’t seem to matter as much as I might think, because there’s action to follow everywhere. The awards don’t take too long and there is a crew of announcers ready to go for each class.

After a while, I decided to get a better view, so I headed up to a suite where some friends had some space.

Taking a spot in suite 18, I had a birds-eye view of all four finals and this allowed me to take in more of the tournament than I could from an endzone seat.

The arena came to its feet following Jacob Snider’s fourth state championship. Snider, from Ponderosa, became the state’s 16^th four-time state champion. In a classy display by Colorado wrestling fans, they all stood and cheered, not needed to be prodded by any announcement about the historic feat. No one had to be told, they knew this was Snider’s moment and it was one few (relatively speaking) have ever experienced.

After Snider won his fourth title, I keyed on two wrestlers I’d had a chance to see wrestle each other in the finals of the Metro. Nick Burghardt of Coronado and Dan Barringer of Lewis Palmer. Burghardt was in the finals in 5A against Ponderosa’s Steven Kelly, while Barringer took on Windsor’s Kurtis Ramsay.

Kelly’s 6-2 victory iced the team championship for Ponderosa, but on the next mat, Barringer had to rally.

Pete Isais of USA Wrestling wasn’t worried, and to be quite honest, neither was I, when Barringer found himself down 8-5 at the end of the first period. Ramsay took neutral and Barringer hit his fireman’s to gain control. From there, it was what Pete and I expected – a barrage of two-on-one tilts. Barringer’s top work gave him buckets of backpoints and ultimately an 18-10 major decision. Impressive.

As action focused on 4A heading into 160, I noticed the team score on the scoreboard above the arena. Roosevelt had a 1.5-point lead over Broomfield, a team I’d known pretty well from covering the Ironman in the past.

I quickly pulled up my iPhone and called up the brackets on TrackWrestling.com, as I scanned through the finals matchups, Roosevelt’s Blake Nygren was wrestling at 160 while Broomfield had John VanTrine going at 171. Anyone else … I scrolled through and found nothing. The next two matches would determine the team champion.

Nygren scored a 3-2 victory over Northridge’s Robert Pickrell … this would give Roosevelt a 5.5-point advantage – meaning VanTrine needed a fall for Broomfield to take then championship.

And he nearly got it.

But what boggled me was how ecstatic Broomfield coach Mark Schmidt was, until Schmidt told me afterwards that the team score on the overhead scoreboard was wrong.

So imagine my confusion as I’m sitting here writing this, then hear Broomfield announced as the champions. Well, the VanTrine victory … and just a victory … was what Broomfield needed to take a 119.5-118 championship over Roosevelt.

That just makes the story even better.

We were treated to some exciting upperweight matches, too. And with high respect for the wrestlers, the stands didn’t empty out … many, if not most, stayed until the final match was finished.

Boulder has a monster at 189. The kid’s name is Max Wessell. He pinned Ponderosa’s Derek Good in 54 seconds to complete a 45-0 season. All four of his wins were by bonus – a fall, a major, a tech and then another fall. Impressive performance. He’s got D1 talent and if people aren’t on him already, get after it.

Conor Medbery, probably the state’s most accomplished wrestler in terms of freestyle and Greco credentials, didn’t break a sweat. The Loveland junior pinned Trey Kirk of Cherry Creek in 30 seconds. He probably could have scored it in 20.

Here’s one thing that will always make the multi-class system worthwhile – the drama. I personally think states like California, New Jersey and Indiana do it “the right way” with one state championship, but the case is made when you have performances like the one by Montrose’s Jordan Passehl.

He scored two at the buzzer to beat Arvada’s Dwight Howes. The Montrose fans erupted. This is what I like about the multi-class format … you’ve made the careers for many a wrestler. Sure, you’re giving out four state championships, but while there’s a King of the Mountain attitude within our sport about “being the best,” watching parents crying while their sons come running up the arena stairs is something you can’t reduce.

There’s so many things to go into, but I feel I’ve been too verbose as it is. But I’ll add these final notes.

Burlington, the 2A champions, win the “most active fans” title. They were awesome and that, too, is another reason why the multi-class system has benefits.

Another note: I noticed a lot of last-minute takedowns, escapes and swings in offense. Much of this was because the wrestler with the lead never skated and the wrestler trailing kept going. Sure, you’re supposed to wrestle with the whistle, but even the kids with the lead were still attacking. They weren’t going to run to win a title, they were going to go out swinging. Some won, some lost, but the Colorado High School State Championships puts wrestling on center stage and portrays all the sport and its greatness on the proper stage.

Colorado’s high school wrestlers sport some of the absolute best/worst hairstyles I’ve ever seen at a wrestling tournament. Pink afros, red Mohawks, bleached-blonde tufts and even a checkerboard – the last by 2A heavyweight champ Isaiah Churchwell of Burlington.

So how does it compare to the other state championships I’ve attended? Hard to say. There’s the high power of Pennsylvania, the home tournament in Virginia … but Colorado’s experience is right up there.

Kudos to you Colorado. It was a blast.

Team Places:

2A: 1. Burlington 167, 2. Wiggins 160, 3. Paonia 117, 4. Holyoke 112, 5. Hayden 76.

3A: 1. Centari 157, 2. Lamar 132.5, 3. Olathe 103.5, 4. Florence 90, 5. Grand Valley 81.5

4A: 1. Broomfield 119.5, 2. Roosevelt 118, 3. Montrose 104, 4. Greeley West 97.5, 5. Windsor 89.5

5A: 1. Ponderosa 126.5, 2. Coronado 108.5, 3. Loveland 100, 4. Pomona 96.5, 5 (tie). Rocky Mountain & Mountain Range 94.