Mead trio, Erie’s Salazar headed to 4A finals – Boulder Daily Camera

DENVER — Mead junior Jake Glade has a large brace around his left knee when he wrestles. In a sport that’ll betray you at the first sign of weakness, he talks about the torn meniscus he suffered in January in detail. Gross detail.

It’s driving him to state gold, he says.

Glade was the first of his teammates to punch their ticket into the state finals during the semifinals round at Ball Arena Friday night, beating Broomfield’s standout sophomore Manny Lopez by a 17-5 major decision in the Class 4A 144-pound weight bracket.

Leister Bowling IV (157s) and Dalton Berg (175s) weren’t far behind, winning their matches within 30 minutes of Glade’s. Erie’s Ramon Salazar won just beforehand, setting up a chance to win a second straight state title.

What drives each of them in a sport that promises pain and not much else has their own personal stamp. It’s illustrated in the hours of work on the mat and the sacrifices they made for the pursuit of victory.

Glade’s injured knee has been the perfect narrative for his demolition tour into the finals.

“It just makes me tougher,” Glade says of it. “At the beginning of the season I just didn’t have that drive like I do now.”

Glade also says he had back surgery for a herniated disc in August. None of his injuries have hampered him, though.

He pinned his way to the regional finals before winning on a technical fall last weekend. At Ball Arena, he then reached the state finals on the strength of a 35-second pin and two major decisions.

Saturday, he faces Pueblo County’s Tony Macaluso for the championship. Macaluso beat Erie’s Carson Hageman in the semifinals, 15-5.

“I don’t think about anything,” says Glade, who feverishly paced along the edge of the mats in the minutes before his semifinals match. “I just go to dominate.”

Glade’s win came a few minutes after Salazar punched his ticket back into the state finals with a 5-2 win over Pueblo Centennial’s Jason Soto. Salazar won the 4A 126-pound title last year.

“There’s always a word that our coach puts on the wall at the end of the year,” says Salazar, who faces Pueblo County’s Izaiah Padilla Saturday. “Last year, it was, ‘Believe’. Believe you can be in the state finals and win, and that’s what I did. This year, it was ‘Unfinished.’ I felt like I’m not finished.”

Bowling IV later beat Windsor’s Santi Fernandez by a 5-2 decision and Berg won with a second-round pin against Mesa Ridge’s Isaiah Jones.

Bowling IV faces top-seed Javani Majoor of Falcon in the finals. Berg faces Vista Ridge’s Solomon Arnds.

“Tomorrow’s final is a new day,” Bowling IV says. “0-0. One match. Win or lose.”