DENVER -After the whistle sounded, signaling Shylee Tuzon’s win in the girls’ Class 5A 170-pound title bout, the Grand Junction Central senior ran to her family and teammates and they draped a lei over her.
Wearing the necklace, which honored her Polynesian heritage, Tuzon cried and hugged her wrestling partner, Clara Denton-Balezten. Tuzon wore that necklace — and a smile — all night. Her win was the highlight of the School District 51 Phoenix’s run to their second consecutive 5A team title.
Tuzon pinned Mountain Vista’s Emma Bielak in 2 minutes, 38 seconds to secure an undefeated senior season. It also solidified her as the first D51 Phoenix wrestler to win a state title since CHSAA sanctioned girls wrestling in the 2021-22 school year. The D51 Phoenix is a composite team based in Grand Junction that welcomes wrestlers from the Grand Junction area and nearby schools, an area that boasts a proud prep wrestling tradition. Tuzon took second last season to Brighton’s Matilda Hruby.
“I got her on her back and I just prayed to God, I just prayed so hard that she would (lie down). They called the pin and everything was just calm,” Tuzon reflected. “I’ve been waiting for that moment since I lost, since freshman year. I wanted to be on that stage, man. It was a breath of fresh air. I did it.”
Tuzon is from Las Vegas and moved to Grand Junction in the eighth grade. Adjusting to a new city — one much different from Viva Las Vegas, at that — was difficult. She was between playing basketball and wrestling in high school when D51 coach Chad Dare spotted her at a middle school tournament and urged her to join the Phoenix and she did.
That decision gave Tuzon a family and helped her fall in love with her new home. Now, she’s slated to wrestle with other former teammates at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction.
Tuzon had knee surgery after last year’s loss to the nationally-ranked Hruby. She hit the gym rehabbing from the operation and moved up to the 170-pound weight class. That change necessitated strength and Tuzon struggled to get pins earlier this season.
Pins are her bread-and-butter — there was no way she would change that and simply wrestle for points.
“I was going with pins,” Tuzon grinned. “Pins are more points for our team and I get tired in a match, so I go for the pin.”
Tuzon found her groove. She pinned each of her four opponents in the state tournament, and Bielak was the only one to make it out of the first period.
Six other D51 girls wrestlers placed, including Pulotu Savea, who took second at 235. D51 outscored second-place Pomona 149.5-124.
(Dan Mohrmann/ColoradoPreps.com)
The team title further positions the D51 Phoenix as the team to beat in girls wrestling. The team faced injuries and struggled to meet weight, Dare said. Those hurdles came as the Phoenix were looking for girls to fill the voids left by graduated seniors.
“It took our team a long time to find their identity and who they are and what their leadership style was gonna be,” Dare said.
But Dare thinks the pieces fell into place when the Phoenix won the Chatfield Lady War Horse tournament in late January and crowned three champions.
That may have only translated to one title winner this weekend, but that signals continual growth for a program that had no finalists in 2022.
On his outgoing, undefeated, champion senior, Dare said: “I think she’s just a kid that’s just ready to wrestle,” later adding that Tuzon “knew where she wanted to go, she was focused all season.”
Class 5A girls wrestling champions
| WEIGHT CLASS | CHAMPION | SCHOOL |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | Justice Gutierrez | Pomona |
| 105 | Timmery Condit | Pomona |
| 110 | Allison McDaniel | Falcon |
| 115 | Jaydin Cuevas | Prairie View |
| 120 | Remington Zimmerer | Regis Jesuit |
| 125 | Amelia Bacon | Vista PEAK |
| 130 | Zaret Silva Lopez | Castle View |
| 135 | Makena Heston | Columbine |
| 140 | Lizzie Padilla | Arapahoe |
| 145 | Ryen Hickey | Chatfield |
| 155 | Matilda Hruby | Brighton |
| 170 | Shylee Tuzon | Grand Junction Central |
| 190 | Shayla Martinez | Broomfield |
| 235 | Khloe Yizar | Vista PEAK |
Top 10 teams
| PLACE | TEAM | SCORE |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand Junction Central | 149.5 |
| 2 | Pomona | 124 |
| 3 | Chatfield | 111 |
| 4 | Thornton | 92 |
| 5 | Eaglecrest | 86 |
| 6 | Pine Creek | 80 |
| 7 | Ponderosa | 60.5 |
| 7 | Poudre | 60.5 |
| 8 | Vista PEAK | 55.5 |
| 10 | Widefield | 54.5 |
