Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Eagle wrestlers' trip to Robertson be cut short

Tigers will be one of few 5A teams at northern N.M. event

Jason W. Brooks News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jbrooks@news-bulletin.com

Due to a scheduling complication, the Belen Eagle wrestling team won't be completing all of its allotted matches at the Cardinal Classic wrestling tournament in Las Vegas, N.M., this weekend.

According to Belen Schools athletic coordinator Jim Danner, the Eagles will travel to the tournament for Friday duals portion of the event, but not the individuals competition slated for Saturday.

The Class 5A Los Lunas Tigers will be the only Valencia County team there for the duration of the event, which is hosted by Robertson High School. They'll be one of the few 5A teams at the tournament, which is set to include about 27 teams. It's one of the larger wrestling events of the year for northern New Mexico.

Belen, which finished third behind Robertson and Rio Rancho at last year's Cardinal Classic, is bordering on going over its 14-event limit. Since some two-day tournaments the Eagles have participated in this year have counted as two separate events, the Belen-hosted Leonard Kirby Invite on Feb. 9 and the Feb. 15 and 16 District 5-4A competition at Moriarty would put the Eagles over the limit.

Danner said at a 5-4A meeting last week, the two-day format of district competition came to light as two separate events that count against a team's total. It was then that Belen began to ponder its participation in the Robertson tourney.

"The purpose of going is to build our records up with a lot of easy wins, a lot of easy matches," said Belen coach Lee Chaves, who tried to find a way to navigate the match limit and still make the Robertson trip. "But we already have some good records, and we have a couple of guys who could still use (a day) off."

Chaves and Danner were both considering getting the Eagles into either a one-day event this weekend, possibly in the southern half of the state, or a dual with a team that is under the event limit. Many New Mexico teams this weekend will be at either the Cardinal Classic or the Albuquerque City Meet, which is open to Albuquerque schools only, said Chaves.

Los Lunas, which won the Cardinal Classic in 2006, is hoping to perform on a high level at the tourney again, said coach Steve Chavez. He said his wrestlers have seen a few familiar opponents more than once in their weight classes this season, so the Classic will offer a change of pace.

" We'll get to see some fresh faces, because a lot of northern teams will be there, and we really want to improve our records," said Chavez. "There will only be four or five 5A schools, so it won't be anything like the Vivian Invite. Our goals are to get in some mat time and to keep getting better."

Chavez said his team will have all of its regulars in place, including 103-pounder Michael Salazar. He made an early departure at the Vivian Invite on Jan. 19 and didn't wrestle in the Tigers' 43-23 defeat at Belen on Jan. 23.

The coach said some of the top teams who will be in attendance will include Robertson, Los Alamos, Carlsbad, Aztec, and Bloomfield. Rio Rancho isn't scheduled to attend.

The Tigers should also have Patrick Encinias wrestling again at 130, after having competed in the team's last two events at 135. Chavez said Monday he hasn't decided if freshman Ricardo Abeyta will go at 119 or 125.

Both the Tigers and Eagles have been idle since their dual with each other on Jan. 23. Los Lunas will participate in District 5-5A duals on Wednesday, Feb. 5.

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