Barbara Lawlor

Gilpin County

Last Friday, Gilpin High School junior Josh Trujillo, 17, wrestled through regional competition to qualify for state, which begins this Thursday, February 16, 2017.

"We haven't had a kid make it through to state in a long time," says wrestling coach Pete Morgan.

Trujillo has wrestled since seventh grade and this is his third regional attempt. It was work ethic, his dedication to training, that led him to his success at this year's regional, says coach Morgan. "He was not a very experienced wrestler, but he worked hard in the weight room and in the pool. He cleaned up mistakes he had been making, beefed up and turned into a monster wrestler."

Claiming second seed with a 24-7 record, Trujillo joined four ranked wrestlers in his weight class. Last Friday night he had a bye round out of the 16 quarter finalists and ended up competing with Levi Nance from Yuma in a close match and a 4-2 win for Trujillo, who wanted it more.

At the end of the match, Trujillo told Coach Morgan that he didn't think he had done well and that he felt dehydrated.

This kid gave it all he could handle," says coach Morgan. The top four regional wrestlers qualify for state.

In his first semi-final, against Brynden Wilson from Wiggins, Coach Morgan says he was scared of Wilson, that he has had two huge upset wins recently. He was outclassed and losing but had the confidence and momentum to pin his opponents.

Josh played his A-game, made no mistakes, dominating, 11-4. His strength is in doing the basics and his signature move is his double leg blast in which he shoots in deep, picks up high and slams his opponent to the mat.

On Saturday, during the finals, the matches were accompanied by the Parade of Champions, with lights and music, a foreign experience for the Gilpin wrestler. He was up against Remington Canfield from Merino, who had a 35-2 record and had been to regional competition before. Canfield took the first two periods, 0-6 and the rest of the mat was battled on foot where it ended.

Trujillo will wrestle on Thursday night. There are 16 in the bracket and coach Morgan is hoping to see his wrestler in the finals or consultation finals. His first match is against third place in Region 1 Clay Campbell, of Paonia, who has a 30-14 record in the toughest region in the state.

"I am so proud of Josh," says coach Morgan. "He came up from mediocre and rose to the top in three months which doesn't happen much. He is definitely in the top eight. The top six winners earn medals in the competition."