Mandi Torrez
DENVER — Tim Saucedo shouldn’t be a sophomore.
And after getting only a couple of wins on the junior varsity last season, he shouldn’t be one of the best wrestlers in the state, either.
But Saucedo proved his status as just that Friday at the Class 4A State Wrestling Championships.
Saucedo, 15, roared the Class 4A State Wrestling Championships and made noise all the way to today’s finals in the heavyweight division.
He pulled out a 5-2 upset over Palisade senior Dustin Deprospo in the semifinals. Deprospo was had just five losses on the year.
“He’s been working so dang hard. He definitely pulled off a big win right there, “Northridge coach Adam Alirez said. “He worked his upper body moves all year long and it a paid off in a big way. From JV to finals? Who would have guessed?”
Saucedo said he was nervous going into the biggest match of his career.
“I couldn’t stand still, “Saucedo said. “I was shaking all kinds.”
But it didn’t show.
Saucedo was the only Greeley wrestler to win his semifinal match Friday and will meet Canon City senior Cody Palmer (33-1) in tonight’s finals at the Pepsi Center.
Saucedo is a long way from where he started. The Grizzly wrestled at 171 pounds last season and almost couldn’t buy a win.
But after growing a couple of inches and getting up to 220 pounds, things have been quite different this year.
He came into the tournament with a 29-7 record and gives much credit to Northridge assistant Jim Martinez, who sure got the most of the Grizzly.
“I think a lot had to do with motivation, and he was just bigger and stronger, “Alirez said. He just wanted it. Last year he was just kind of feeling it out as a freshman and couldn’t make varsity because we had some good guys. This year he was just big. He came up to me at about 215 and said ‘Coach, I’m heavyweight.'”
Saucedo, who had some success in pee wee wrestling but not really since, shouldn’t even have been in high school last year when he got beat up on the junior varsity. His mom decided to put start him in school a year early because he was bigger than everyone else.
Now, he’s simply bigger than most of the state.
“It feels awesome, “he said.
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