Class 3A could be the class to watch next year if Colorado high school wrestling fans want to find a pair of promising three-timers.
Fort Lupton’s D’mitri Garza-Alarcon (42-4) held off a strong effort from Mullen’s Isaak Chavez, a freshman, in a narrow 2-1 decision at the 138-pound weight class Saturday night while the Mustangs had a winner in Dale O’Blia (40-3), who dominated his 113-pound weight class in a 17-6 major decision over Severance junior Jonathan Morrison.
The juniors are now 3-for-3 in state titles.
After Garza-Alarcon’s victory, he was filled with all sorts of emotions knowing what he’s been through to get to this point. One of the more boisterous wrestlers in the state, even after a thrilling victory, he knew how to press the needle in even more.
“I’ve got so much adrenaline and it makes me feel like I wanna cry but also it makes me feel like I wanna go run another marathon or go wrestle another state match, because honestly, it’s the best feeling in the world,” Garza-Alarcon said. “Wrestling in an arena full of people when you’ve worked your butt off to see and meet. It’s very cool to win, and for them to celebrate me as they do.
“… My thoughts are, I’m gonna dominate, I’m gonna win. I did not dream this for nothing, so I’m here to take his name, I’m here to take his title. I’m here to take everything about him. I want to take his dignity, I want to win.”
If Garza-Alarcon was amped to the rafters, O’Blia was cool, calm and collected after he became the first three-timer of the night across any classification.
“I wanna keep training as hard as I can and keep focused on the next competition,” O’Blia said. “… It feels great that I accomplished this but my next goal is looking for bigger and brighter things and I love that I can get this done. Ultimately, it’s a stepping stone to my ultimate goal.”
For O’Blia, his progress represents how far the Mullen wrestling program has come. He’s the first state title winner in program history, and he was later joined by Kaleb Valdez-Lemos, who won the 3A 175-pound title with a 5-1 win over La Junta’s Dilan Ruiz.
“Mullen as a whole since my freshman year has grown a huge amount in wrestling terms,” O’Blia said. “We’re doing great things right now and I think we can currently keep on doing these great things. Hopefully with my help and leadership we can get a team state title one day.”
But when asked what’s going to stand out? The loss column.
“My losses are what helped drive me to be a better me and those are what helped me learn from my mistakes,” he said.
