Pine Creek wrestlers understand that the same pressure that bursts pipes also makes diamonds. The Eagles expect the season opener to start the process of creating gems.

The Eagles will host a pair of wrestling tournaments starting Friday – one on the boys’ side and another on the girls’ end – with a slew of talented teams slated to attend.

Pine Creek’s girls will host the inaugural Ice Queen tournament with more than 20 teams traveling to Chinook Trail Middle School. Weigh-ins begin at 1 p.m. Friday while wrestling starts at 5. The boys will continue their Battle of the Best tournament, which starts at 2 p.m.

“There are weight classes here that will be tougher than the state tournament,” Pine Creek boys coach Billy Gabel said of the Ice Queen event. “It’s a huge opportunity for girls and girls wrestling. We see girls are doing well with the sport and creating a tournament like the Ice Queen is another chance for girls to compete and improve.”

The Ice Queen will have 14 weight classes and is an individual tournament that includes Colorado High School Activities Association’s 5A preseason No. 1 Pomona, No. 4 Widefield, No. 9 Ponderosa, Doherty, Coronado and Kansas’ 6A state girls defending champion Garden City.

“There are a lot of coaches who don’t want to come out of the gates with a tough tournament. They want to build up to that,” Gabel said. “Johnny Lopez is the girls head coach for Pine Creek and our mindset is to get them the best competition throughout the whole season and the cream will rise to the top.”  

Battle of the Best features 5A, 4A defending team champions

Gabel shared similar sentiments regarding the annual boys tournament, which will bring a swath of talented teams to Pine Creek High School.

The annual Battle of the Best tournament will feature four pools of teams and lives up to its name.

Some schools featured are seven-time defending 5A state champions Pomona, 5A five-time runner-up Ponderosa, 4A reigning champs Pueblo East, Kansas’ two-time defending 4A champs Rose Hill and Kansas’ 6A powerhouse Garden City.

Also included are CHSAA’s 5A preseason No. 5 Cherokee Trail, No. 6 Chatfield, No. 8 Fruita Monument; 4A No. 8 Falcon and No. 9 Sand Creek.

All teams at the tournament had at least one state qualifier last season and majority boast a state champion. That gantlet and arduous road paved the way for the Eagles’ 138-pounder to earn a state championship last season.

Elijah Banks, who now wrestles at CSU Pueblo, endured a similar schedule and stood atop the podium at Ball Arena in February.

“I used Elijah as an example because he had to go through that,” Gabel said. “Elijah went out to (the Doc Buchanan), a nationally ranked tournament and did terrible. Two weeks later, he came back and he was tech-falling people and he had a different attitude. … I sat him down in front of the team and asked what happened. He said, ‘Something clicked when I saw how good I could be.’

“You have to show kids why we go to tough tournaments. They need moments like that so they can see that this is the outcome.”