DELTA – With three champions, three second-place finishers and five third-place finishers, Rifle’s wrestling team easily won Saturday’s Delta Invitational.

The Bears, who produced 25 pins on the day, outscored second-place Delta, 215.5-167.5.

“Right before finals, I think 10 points separated us and Delta,” Rifle head coach John Wisniewski said. “It was really neat to see. Our team’s pretty young, but they just came out with one huge team effort the entire day. It was great to see.”

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Larry Schmueser (130 pounds), James Martinez (140) and Tyler Davis (189) each left Delta as undefeated champions.

Devon Godeski (112), Keaton Deere (119) and Matt Barrett (152) were all silver finishers, while Marcus Arroyo (135), Alex Copeland (145), Kyle Shaw (171), Mike Todd (215) and Nick Melon (285) each took third.

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Steven Garza (152) placed fifth and Hugo Ruelas was sixth at 125 pounds.

Rifle also wrestled at Montrose on Thursday, losing a dual to the Indians by a score of 39-36.

“It was a good battle,” Wisniewski said. “We only had one day of practice before the match. Snow days messed us up. We had a couple guys wrestling up, and we threw in two freshmen. Montrose has some monsters for their upper weights.”

Winning matches for the Bears in that one were Godeski (112), Deere (119), Schmueser (135), Arroyo (140), Martinez (145), Matt Barrett (152) and Melon (285).

On the docket for Rifle is next weekend’s Warrior Classic at Grand Junction Central High School. The Bears will return from winter break with a trip to the Jan. 8-9 Vernal Tournament in Utah. Then they’ll head to Wyoming for the Jan. 15-16 Green River Tournament.

Outside of regionals and the state tournament, it’s easily the toughest stretch of schedule Rifle will face all season.

“It’s going to be a true test of the team those next three [tournaments],” Wisniewski said. “Those are three big tournaments. It’ll be what separates the men from the boys.”

PARACHUTE – Outscoring the Cowboys 30-23 in the second half, Grand Valley secured a 46-39 boys basketball win over visiting Gunnison on Saturday.

With the win, the Cardinals improved to 3-1 on the young season.

CEDAREDGE – Roaring Fork’s boys basketball team fell to 0-3 with a 53-37 loss at Cedaredge on Saturday.

The Rams will aim to break into the win column with a Friday trip to Coal Ridge.

PARACHUTE – Erin Vanderpool erupted for 25 points as Grand Valley’s girls basketball team moved to 5-0 with a 44-31 win over Gunnison on Saturday.

Shawnee Young chipped in with eight points and Tiffany Tittes added six for the Cardinals.

CEDAREDGE – With a 50-35 loss at Cedaredge on Saturday, Roaring Fork’s girls basketball team dropped to 0-3.

The Rams return to the court Friday at Coal Ridge.