Athlete of the Week: Dmarian Lopez

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - Undisputed state champion of Colorado, that’s a title that Montrose High School Wrestler Dmarian Lopez once again brought home to Western Colorado.

In Denver at the State Championships, Lopez was able to win his second 4A 285 Weight Class title.

“It’s amazing. I mean, I feel great and thank you to God. He gave me the strength to finish these last few days and I feel great. I can do anything. You Anything with God on my side,” Lopez said moments after the championship match.

The now back-to-back state champ defended his title from last year up against the same opponent he took down at the end of the previous season. Once again Lopez got the better of Matt Moore from Mesa Ridge High School in Colorado Springs.

Last year, Lopez took down Moore in a 9-7 championship round. This year’s edition was a much lower scoring affair, with the defending champ pulling off the narrow 2-1 victory. Lopez even overcame Moore scoring the initial point of the match.

“I stayed calm, I wrestled my match. And I came back, and I won. That’s all that it was,” Lopez said.

According to Montrose Wrestling Coach Neal Sample, who has seen Lopez grow throughout his athletic career, the success Lopez has seen on the wrestling mat should be no surprise.

“I mean, he’s all you can ask for with a wrestler. He came into the high school, not mature, grew into an awesome kid. He works his butt off whatever sport he does, he’s a heck of a football player, obviously a heck of a wrestler. I mean, that’s just not God-given talent he worked has worked his butt off for years in high school, and he deserves every bit of this,” Coach Samples said.

After the championship match concluded at Ball Arena, both Lopez and Samples said it was very important to them to showcase that Western Slope Wrestlers can compete with their in-state counterparts.

“It’s crazy we don’t get the respect we deserve. We have a lot of athletes, that can compete with these kids. And they look down on us all the time. I was just here to represent and show them what we could do over there,” Lopez said.

“It’s awesome. You got top class athletes out here and have a kid come in and win two state titles in a row. That’s great to have. It’s the kind of stuff we need to build this program back up. It’s great to have kids like that,” Samples said.

Copyright 2023 KKCO. All rights reserved.