Jason Murphy takes fourth at State

DENVER — Jason Murphy, a John Mall sophomore who entered the tournament with a 30-12 record as ninth in the state with the number ten seed, captured fourth place at the 2015 State Tournament in Denver last weekend. In his opening bout, Murphy met a wrestler he was very familiar with as the pair had met before. This time, Murphy won when he needed to over Swink’s Weston Downey (20-17) by fall in a time of 3:32. In the quarterfinals, Murphy won by decision over Matt Ewertz (Wiggins, 35-8) 5-2. This was the first time the two had met. Ewertz was fifth in the state. The semifinals saw Blaine Larson (Fowler, 36-6) and number two in the state, win by decision over Murphy 4-0 in a battle in which Murphy trailed by only a takedown late into the final minute. The loss sent Murphy into the consolation semifinals, guaranteeing him a placement. In the round, Murphy won in a 4-0 decision over Kaler Ybarra (Yuma, 27-17). In his final match of the tournament for third place, Kaleb Gaede (Limon, 36-8), who was evenly matched with Murphy, won by a 7-1 decision. It was a close match with the only points allowed in four minutes being a 2-point take down award given to Gaede. Trailing 4-0 as the final period began, Murphy had a 1-point escape from the top position and began to fight back, but Murphy could not get the needed takedown to make the match close. Gaede scored a takedown with 15 seconds remaining which cinched the victory for the Limon freshman. Congrats to Jason Murphy for placing and a job well done!