Wrestlers from Bayfield, Durango, Ignacio won titles in Pagosa Springs

The Durango High School girls wrestling team poses for a photo after competing in the Rocky Mountain Girls Invitational at Pagosa Springs High School on Friday. (Courtesy Ryan McGrath)

After wrestling in some of the biggest tournaments in the state, the Durango High School girls wrestling team took advantage of less competition at the Rocky Mountain Girls Invitational and finished second on Friday in Pagosa Springs.

The Durango wrestlers weren’t the only locals to have success, with Bayfield High School and Ignacio High School wrestlers winning their weight classes.

“We’re really excited about it,” Durango head coach Ryan McGrath said. “For our younger wrestlers, it was a good tournament where they could be competitive. Some of the hardest stuff for those wrestlers is building the mental game, believing they’re competitive and that their equitable with their opponents. This was a good tournament to exercise that.”

Durango finished second out of nine teams with 78.5 points. Pagosa Springs won the invitational with 85.5 points, and Montezuma-Cortez was third with 52 points. Ignacio finished fourth with 46 points, and Bayfield finished fifth with 39 points.

Once again, it was the Fenberg twins leading the way for the Demons. Aleia won at 130 pounds, and Lillian won at 140 pounds. Aleia pinned her first two opponents before dominating Ignacio’s Kima Rima, 15-0. She then won her weight class by beating Pagosa Springs’ Kyley Matyniak, 9-5.

Lillian pinned each of her three opponents in less than 90 seconds, including Ignacio’s Eliska Prokopova in the final to win the weight class.

“She’s a very explosive wrestler, and so we’ve been working a lot on the application of that explosiveness,” McGrath said about Lillian. “Don’t just go out there, explode and hope something takes. Go out there and be intentional … she was very dominant today.”

Durango’s Keelyn Reynolds had a solid tournament, finishing second at 120 pounds. She won her first two matches before losing to Nucla’s Kynnlie McCabe, 11-7, in the final.

McGrath has been proud of how Reynolds’ skill set has grown and been refined. Reynolds’ first high school win was this year, and she’s been very good about making a plan and sticking to it, according to McGrath. At the beginning of the year, he didn’t know if Reynolds could make it to the postseason, but now, he believes she has a shot at qualifying for regionals and state.

Sydney McAllister also finished second for the Demons. At 105 pounds, McAllister lost in the final 9-0 to Pagosa Springs’ Bella Jackson. McAllister is also a hockey player, and her toughness showed in Pagosa Springs as she was persistent and pushed her opponents, according to McGrath.

Bayfield’s Jade Kehoe finished first at 155 pounds after pinning Montezuma-Cortez’s Reese Wing in the final. Allison Thomas finished third at 110 pounds for the Wolverines; Elly Coey bounced back after losing her first match to finish third at 120 pounds, and Ashlynn Bravo finished third at 140 pounds.

For Ignacio, Krysten Neil won at 135 pounds after she pinned Audrina Smith from Pagosa Springs in the final. Eliska Prokopova finished second at 140 pounds after losing to Lillian in the final. Kodi Rima finished third at 130 pounds.

Durango, Bayfield and Ignacio will all compete in the La Plata Tri at Bayfield High School on Thursday at 4 p.m.

bkelly@durangoherald.com

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SAN ANTONIO — The Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a youth leader/teacher on several child sex charges.

Caldwell County detectives flew to Las Vegas and extradited Brian Rodriguez back to Texas for the following child sexual offenses:

“This case remains active and if you or someone you know have any additional information pertaining to Brian Rodriguez, please contact Detective M. Reinarz at 512-359-4514 or marie.reinarz@co.caldwell.tx.us. The Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office request parents to speak to their children if their children were acquaintances of Brian Rodriguez,” CCSO said.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville youth sports program will add softball this year and continue efforts to remove cost barriers that keep many children from playing organized baseball and softball.

Lashun Highsmith, the founder of Diamond in the Rough, talked about the new softball program and why it was needed.

“Yes. We have seen the need for softball in our community,” Highsmith said. “A lot of our girls don’t get a chance to play until they get to middle school. Maybe they start out and play a tee ball. But, you know, once they hit ten and they love ten, ten years old, they fall in love and they maybe revisit the sport again in middle school. So we want to give the girls a chance now in our community, to play the game of softball at an early age.”

Coach Tercel McKinzie of the Henry Brown Athletic Association said he focuses on fundamentals to keep players engaged across multiple sports.

“In the beginning, just making sure that I start with fundamentals in each sport, teaching it the proper way and for a lot of them, like, I’m dealing with a demographic or a low income,” McKinzie said. “So a lot of the kids that I deal with, they don’t have fathers, so for them, I am their father. So for most of them, they’ll do exactly what I ask them to do. So it’s not one of those things that they’ll question.”

Affordability, Highsmith said, is one of the biggest obstacles for families.

“Yeah. Cost is the biggest thing that have priced a lot of our kids out of the game. So what we have been doing with Stolen Base Kings and over at Henry Brown Association, we made it affordable for parents to be able to bring the kids out and play football and baseball at the same time, others venture out into basketball too, but a lot of times football and basketball, basketball have been so dominant in our community,” Highsmith said.

He pointed to rising fees for youth baseball and the program’s approach to keep the sport accessible.

“And with the prices of baseball really so high now, you know, it’s some teams are charging $150 and $200-250 a month to play. And our kids can’t afford that, along with the training and everything. So I say we incorporate fundamentals in our regular practices and a lot of, well, we take time and we give special training to individual kids as well,” Highsmith said.

The clinic will be on Jan. 17 at 10 a.m. at Nip Sams Park 6602 Richardson Road. Lunch and gloves will be provided for free.

M-Sport favouring youth over experience when it comes to its World Rally Championship driver line-up is nothing new, having developed a reputation for being perennial producer of star talent.

The British squad has provided a valuable proving ground for WRC stars of the future, with many of those going on to win or challenge for world titles. Its most recent success alumni being Ott Tanak and Elfyn Evans, the former going on to become world champion with Toyota in 2019, while the latter is a five-time WRC title runner-up.

The production line has continued to produce with Adrien Fourmaux its latest star, who after a breakthrough 2024, left the squad to join Hyundai and challenged for outright wins in 2025.

Developing drivers has been part of M-Sport’s ethos for generations, and as a privateer operating against the likes of full factory efforts from Toyota and Hyundai, where resources are plentiful, opting to develop talent rather than spend big on experience is often the best and most logical option.

This year, M-Sport has once again adopted a similar approach, offering full-time drives to Irish duo Josh McErlean and Rally1 rookie Jon Armstrong. On paper the duo is clearly the least experienced 2026 line-up when it comes to competing in rallying’s top tier, but M-Sport team principal Richard Millener is predicting his Motorsport Ireland-backed drivers will deliver an “exciting year” and challenge the WRC’s elite during the campaign.

“We’ve been working on it for a while in the background to try and find a way to be there [competing in WRC] again and know how hard it is for us to do that,” said Millener.

“It will be an exciting year. I’d like to go and try and take the fight to [the] Hyundai guys on some events, I think we can do that and prove a point visibly.

“Absolutely I think we can do it, Martins [Sesks] was leading a rally for us for two days in Saudi Arabia last year. Jon has won some rallies and been on Hayden’s [Paddon, Hyundai’s new signing] pace in rallies and things like that. So [I] don’t see why they [Josh and Jon] can’t be in a position where we can be taking it to them. I think that will be one of the goals that we look at this year.”

Millener’s viewpoint ahead of this month’s annual season opener in Monte Carlo is backed up by the recent performances delivered from his young charges. For McErlean, this season represents only his second campaign competing in Rallying’s top tier after impressing M-Sport in his rookie season 12 months ago.

Rich Millener, Team principal M-Sport Ford Rally

Photo by: M-Sport

The 26-year-old scored seven top 10 finishes in 2025, recording best results of seventh in Monte Carlo, Finland and Central Europe during a year where he quickly got to grips with the step up from Rally2 to Rally1. Having been able to match, and sometimes eclipse, the speed of his more experienced team-mate Gregoire Munster last year, it is anticipated that McErlean will take another step forward in 2026.

“It was always the intention to try and find a way to do two years with Josh. But I think he kind of exceeded our expectations so obviously that made the decision slightly easier,” Millener added.

“Now, it could be harder for him. He’s got experience of all the events, and he’s going to go back in and needs to kind of prove the same pace and a bit more. It’s not going to be the easiest challenge in the second year, but I think it’s one he’s ready for.

“I do think having a team-mate like Jon is actually a good thing for him. They’ll get on very well very quickly from the beginning so they can all work together, and I think Jon will help Josh in some rallies and likewise the opposite in the others. I’m quite happy with the way [it’s] lining up.”

Armstrong faces the biggest challenge of the two drivers with the notoriously challenging Monte Carlo roads marking his first competitive start in a Rally1 car.

However, the 31-year-old does have a wealth of valuable experience on his side having worked his way through the junior ranks in Rally3 and Rally2 machinery. Armstrong has twice finished runner-up in the Junior WRC. In 2021, he finished second to now Toyota factory star Sami Pajari – proving that he possesses the skill level to compete with the WRC’s best rising stars.

Jon Armstrong

Armstrong also heads into 2026 with his confidence high after finishing runner-up in the European Rally Championship, ending the 2025 season with a second in the Czech Republic, followed by two breakthrough outright wins in Wales and Croatia.

“A lot of us have known that Jon’s certainly got sheer pace. We’ve seen that in some of his results in a Rally3 car with M-Sport Poland and they were quite incredible, to be honest,” said Millener.

“We then put him into a Rally2 and the first year was difficult and I think expectations were higher than the realities, to learn the next car up and be on the pace. There was a bit of negativity around his performances towards the end of that year, but I pushed to make sure that we considered him for 2025 and we got a deal together to put him back in ERC, in the Rally2 car.

“The first part of the season wasn’t the best, maybe a bit tricky, maybe pushing a bit too hard, making a few silly small mistakes, which cost him. But then, all of a sudden, he managed to turn around and get a good couple of results, which then led to a couple of wins as well. As soon as he took that first win in Ceredigion, I think his whole mindset changed.

“I think he was a lot more relaxed and knew he could do it and instantly you’re away. I think he turned into a very different person at that point, which we’ve seen before when Adrien (Fourmaux) got his first podium in WRC.

“I think he’s another top student that has come through the M-Sport ranks and proven his way to the top. He’s earned his position to get to that.

“It’s not been a straight path to the top, and he’s learned how to deal with that. And now he’s proven himself to give him the opportunity to go and see what he can do now. I think he is, not just physically but mentally prepared as well for the challenge ahead, I think he’s in a good place. It’s the right time for him and honestly an exciting one.”

M-Sport’s new look WRC line-up will have the opportunity to pilot the team’s Ford Puma Rally1 car in a pre-event test in France early next week to prepare for Monte Carlo. 

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The Brenham Cubettes’ wait for a district victory came to an end on Friday night at A&M Consolidated.

Brenham earned a 45-41 win over the Lady Tigers to collect its first district win since Feb. 6, 2024.

The Cubettes broke a 15-game district losing streak that extended into last season. Brenham also collected its fourth win over A&M Consolidated in the last 17 head-to-head meetings, according to MaxPreps data.

Brenham trailed 11-10 after a tight first quarter, but fought back to take a 28-24 lead into halftime. After taking a 40-32 lead into the final period, the Cubettes held off the Lady Tigers despite scoring just five fourth-quarter points to secure their victory.

This story will be updated with more detailed stats from Friday’s game.

Brenham will return to its home court for a 6:30 p.m. Tuesday district game against Rudder.