Jason Farmer/News-Sun
The Hobbs wrestling team sent 11 grapplers to the state tournament in Rio Rancho. When it was all said and done, just three Hobbs wrestlers brought home any hardware. Hobbs’ top wrestler on the day was Ja’Nyaw Banks, the only Hobbs grappler to win an individual championship.
Banks won the girls 152-weight class championship when she pinned Volcano Vista’s Dayna Herera 51 seconds into the championship match.
To get there, Banks won her opening match in just 67 seconds by pinning St. Pius X’s Zia Budagher. Banks’ next victim was Amanda Vasquez and the Lady Eagle senior pinned her with eight seconds left in the first round, sending her to the championship match.
The Lady Eagles’ other grappler was Yenesis Serrano and the freshman faced to opponents, losing both matches. Serrano fell to Lynnayah James in the opener and then lost to Shaydan Castillo in the first round of the wrestlebacks.
Gavin Brumley was the only Eagle grappler to win his first two matches. The senior grappler started off by pinning Cleveland’s Gabe Martinez with 32 seconds left in the first round. Brumley then pinned Manzano’s Dylan Langholf 17 seconds into the third round. Unfortunately for Brumley, he lost in the semifinals to Los Lunas’ Ryan Vega by a 4-0 decision.
Now in the wrestlebacks, Brumley pinned Centennial’s Izaiah Gonzalez 17 seconds into the match, sending the Eagle into the third place match against Volcano Vista’s Matt Maldonado where he lost a tight 2-1 decision to finish fourth. Brumley finished the season with a 26-5 record.
Rene Pages was the only other Eagle grappler to win his opening match. While he didn’t make it to the first place match, Pages did work his way into the third place match where he went up against Farmington’s Isaac Foutz, where he lost a close 6-5 decision to finish fourth. Pages was 26-10 over the 2021-22 season.
Pages, who was in the 182-weight class, pinned Atrisco Heritage’s Joziah Lopez with 22 seconds left in the second round to win his first match. Pages then fell to Ernie Byers of Las Cruces by a 9-7 decision. Now in the wrestlebacks, Page worked his way through three opponents to get to the third place match. Pages pinned Alamogordo’s Ryan Stoval 60 seconds into the first round. He then beat Cleveland’s Harris Momeh by an 8-4 decision. Pages next win was a pin of Roswell’s Kevin Alarcon with 10 seconds left in the second round.
Arick Serrano lost his opening match in the 126-weight class, but battled back, for a while, in the wrestlebacks. The Eagle grappler pinned Albuquerque’s Adrian Perez in the second round and then pinned Gadsden’s Alex Andrade. Unfortunately for Serrano, that was his last win as he fell to Piedra Vista’s Zander Bahri in the next round. Serrano was 14-12 for the year.
In the 132-weight class, Kendal Herbst lost his opening match when he was pinned in the third round. He then beat Daniel Amaro of Las Cruces by a 6-0 decision in the wrestlebacks, but followed that up with a 9-5 loss to Gadsden’s Mathius Soto. Herbst finished the season with a record of 30-7.
Like most his teammates, Cameron Hernandez lost his opener in the 152-weight class when he was pinned with 33 seconds left in the second round. But Hernandez battled back, pinned Gadsden’s Manuel Rosales with eight seconds left in the first round. Hernandez followed that up with a loss to Anthony Fuentes of Carlsbad two seconds into the third round. Hernandez finished the year 22-11.
Wrestling at 170 pounds, Alex Chavira lost to Cibola’s Andre Ramos when he was pinned 21 seconds into the first round of the opening match. Next up for Chavira was a 6-4 loss to Centennials’ Julian Avalos. Chavira finished the season with a record of 8-15.
In the 106-weight class, freshman Manny Slate lost both his matches. The freshman earned a wild card slot and fell to Atrisco Heritage’s Maddox Martinez in the first round. Slate then lost to Rio Rancho’s Isaiah Simmons in the wrestlebacks. Slate finished with a record of 13-13.
Miguel Gonzalez (11-15) lost both his matches in the 138-weight class. Gonzalez was pinned in the first round of his opening match and pinned again, in the second round, of his first wrestle-back match.
Emilio Darnell was also a two-match wrestler for the Eagles, dropping both of his matches in the 145-weight class. Darnell was pinned by Santiago Lopez of Atrisco Heritage 37 seconds into the first round before falling 14-7 to Hunter Schwartz of Piedra Vista in the wrestle-backs.
