Legacy’s Funk breaks family curse, wins title – Boulder Daily Camera

DENVER — Legacy junior Quinn Funk is the youngest of five wrestling brothers. Three of them had been to the finals at the state tournament and came up just short of a state title. He said the other was sick during the tournament when he possibly had his best chance at gold.

The “Funk Curse”, as the brothers came to call it, was finally lifted Saturday night at Ball Arena.

“They were just really proud of me for wrestling hard and finishing out the match,” said Quinn, who dominated Grandview’s Maxwell Kibbee en route to a pin in the second round of the Class 5A 190-pound finals.

The finals win came a day after Funk beat the bracket’s top seed, Ponderosa’s Westin Hoffschneider, in the semifinals. His 10-6 decision Friday was far closer than a one-sided final.

“It really boosted my confidence,” Funk said of the semifinals win. “Hoffschneider was one of the toughest guys in the state and beating him just showed I could beat anybody.”

Funk’s pin came in 3 minutes and 7 seconds. He also had pins of 57 seconds and 1:58 in the tournament.

Runner-up ain’t so bad

Holy Family junior Abram Moore didn’t have the finish he wanted. But that won’t ruin his night.

“I improved, I improved significantly,” said Moore, who was pinned by Salida’s undefeated senior Drew Johnson in the 3A 215-pound final. “From losing pretty big in the semis and getting fourth last year, to getting all the way to finals last year and outplacing those kids who beat me last year, it’s a great feeling.”

Moore had a first-round pin and two decision wins en route to facing Johnson, who finished the year a perfect 44-0. The Salida senior pinned all his state opponents in a combined five minutes.

Wrestling wrap-up

Perfect symmetry hardly presents itself in a sport like wrestling, but the BoCoPreps-area grapplers put together a set of fractions that would make any of their math teachers tear up at the beauty.

Sixty-three qualifiers entered Ball Arena for the first round of the state championships on Thursday. By night’s end, 18 — or 2/7 — had won their way to the semifinals. Nine more — 1/7 — wrestled their way to Saturday night’s finals.

Twenty-one — 1/3 — placed.

Local placers

5A

-Emilio Trujillo-Deen, Monarch, 2nd (144s)

-Dominik Gendreau, Monarch, 5th (150s)

-Ryan Bynarowicz, Legacy, 6th (175s)

Quinn Funk, Legacy, 1st (190s)

-Xavier Valentin-Bradford, Centaurus, 5th (285s)

-Top-20 teams (Monarch, 12th; Legacy, 14th).

4A

-Calvin Mendez, Skyline, 4th (113s)

-Ramon Salazar, Erie, 1st (132)

-Carson Hageman, Erie, 3rd (144s)

-Jake Glade, Mead, first (144s)

-Manny Lopez, Broomfield, 4th (144s)

-Leister Bowling, Mead, 2nd (157s)

-Dalton Berg, Mead, 1st (175s)

-Hunter Knight, Longmont, 6th (215s)

-Rene Perez, Skyline, 6th (285s)

-Top-20 teams (Mead, seventh; Erie, 12th; Skyline 17th)

3A

-Brayden Bach, Holy Family, 4th (138s)

-Abram Moore, Holy Family, 2nd (215s)

-Top-20 teams (Holy Family, 19th)

2A

-Jaden Gardner, Lyons, 2nd (157s)

Girls

-Samantha White, Broomfield, 5th (130s)

-Sydney Wu, Broomfield, 6th (135s)

-Ashley Booth, Mead, 2nd (140s)

-Kirsten Davis, Mead, 4th (145s)

-Top-20 teams (Mead, 17th)