Ironwood Ridge High School won the Division-II state wrestling title Friday, Feb. 11.
The team racked up 141.5 points in the contest with runner-up Cienega totaling 74.5 points.
“It’s really a good group of kids,” said coach Tim Berrier.
The team lost several seniors last year and expected to go through a rebuilding stage this year. But he said the hard work the boys put in made it clear early in the season that the team would again be contenders.
“Nobody ever complained the whole year,” Berrier said. “We’re planning to do it again next year.”
The Nighthawks had several individual champions.
Connor Buette won in the 119-pound category, Tate Sandifer won the 125, and Walker Slaughter was the 152 champion.
Mountain View High School finished ninth with 54 points, while the Marana High School took 12th with 52 points.
Marana’s Louis Payne won the state wrestling title in the 215-pound category. He finished the season at 44-1.
Runner-ups included Mountain View’s Adam Jungbluth in the 135-pound category, while Ironwood’s Ruben Valdez and David Wilson finished second in the 140- and 160-pound categories, respectively.
