Sports Writer
DENVER —At the Colorado State Wrestling Championships, Nucla High's Tucker and Stryker Lane each pinned their way to Class 2A titles.
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"This is literally a dream come true. We've been working 12 years to see them win back-to-back titles," Nucla High assistant coach and their father Larry Lane said. "Their goal when they came here was to score 60 points and they did it."
Minus Tucker's one loss at the state championships as a sophomore, the senior pinned every opponent he faced at the state and regional championships in the last four years, winning three titles along the way. His lone loss at state was to Crowley County's four-time state champion, Torbin Walters.
This season, Tucker went 37-0 and had 34 pins. He pinned every Colorado wrestler he faced.
Tucker also became the first wrestler to ever win the Warrior Classic in Grand Junction four times, the first to ever win the Uintah (Utah) Tournament of Champions four times and he won the Rollie Lane Invitational, which is named after his uncle, in Idaho.
Saturday night, after he won his third title, Tucker's face didn't show a lot of emotion, but his words certainly expressed it.
"It's amazing. It's just exactly what I planned — wrestle my best match here at state in my last match here," Tucker said.
His emotions weren't all positive though.
"In some ways it’s sad because this tournament has meant so much to me for the last four years," he said. "At the same time, I know I'm going to go on to do other great things in wrestling."
Next season, he will compete collegiately in Division-I for Nebraska, passing the torch to his brother.
"This is great for me," Stryker said about winning his first title. "Now everybody knows I can do great too. I've been living in Tucker's shadow for a long time; this will help me out."
"He's had some huge shoes to follow in; he's done some great things that have been completely under the radar," Larry said. "He'll fill his own shoes."
Stryker also won titles at Uintah and the Rollie Lane this season and was the Warrior Classic's runner-up.
"I've known all along he's had amazing potential — it's great to see him come into fruition," Tucker said.
"I've been working for this since I was in pre-school," Stryker said. "It's real great for Tucker and me to win it in the same year."
Without Tucker in the wrestling room next year, Nucla's head coach Tory Bonner might not be as sore.
"It will definitely cut down on my chiropractor bills when he's done, but I'm gonna miss him," Bonner said.
Tucker's last high school victory was special for Dove Creek too.
The Bulldogs and Rocky Ford began the finals round tied for first in 2A with 135 points. Grant Hobbs gave Dove Creek the lead by pinning Holyoke's Chad Stroh to win a 112-pound title while the first three Meloneers to compete finished as runners-up.
For the second year in a row Rocky Ford's title hopes came down to last match. Last year Paonia's Chris Kennedy pinned his heavyweight opponent to knock Rocky Ford off the top of the podium and put his team on the pinnacle.
This year the Meloneers needed their heavyweight Brock Freidenberger to pin Tucker to win a team title. Instead, Tucker carried him to his back and pinned him in 1:21.
Other highlight's from 2A include Limon's Kevin LeValley becoming Colorado's 14th four-time state champion by pinning Dove Creek's Jacob Guynes in 3:50 at 145 pounds.
Meeker's Joe LeBlanc won his third title, pinning Rocky Ford's Jacob Jurney in 3:15 at 160 pounds.
The Mustangs finished in fifth place.
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