Cherokee Trail two-sport star Sam Hart enters state tournament undefeated and a favorite to win Cougars’ first title

For all Sam Hart has accomplished in his training careerhe s driven by what he and his college haven’t completed.

The Cherokee Trail junior is the preferred at the Class 5A 220-pound mount when the CHSAA country tournament opens Thursday at Pepsi Center. On those mats Hart intends to become the first individual state winner in his school’s 17-year history.

“Our state champ plank in the room is sterile, and trainer asks us daily, ‘Who would like to be the first person there?’ ” Hart said. “Last yearI had been thinking about that. This season I’m considering it more. I see the white spaces on that board and I am really motivated by it. ”

Hart, a standout soccer player who verbally committed to Ohio State, has dominated in his “second” game this year with a 34-0 record. One of eight wrestlers throughout all courses, 25 of Hart’s wins. He also won five championships, including two out-of-state. Even the tight end/defensive finish has been fueled to the mat by his reduction at the finals to Grand Junction’s Hunter Tobiasson.

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“He’so prepared for the moment,” Cherokee Trail head trainer Jeff Buck said. “That awful taste that has been left in his mouth from the finals has prompted him. He also set his wish put that goal a little bit higher for an undefeated state champ, then to be a state champ. He can do it. ”

Cherokee Trail has had chances at titles but the program will be 0-5 in championship. The Cougars’ greatest team finish was in 2010 and 2017.

But Hart, flanked by nine other Cherokee Trail qualifiers, is prepared to change that history .

“That pressure hasn’t phased him” said heavyweight Julian Williams, an Air Force soccer pledge. “He doesn’t show he’s carrying all of these expectations, but (drive) always comes through to the mat. This ’s the optimism really comes out, this year, and now we fed on that at the room. ”

Hart’s escalation supporting this undefeated year has been building for decades. With a strong athletic pedigree (Hart’s dad and two older brothers both played Division I football), the 17-year-old started wrestling at age 3, then joined the Junior Cougars feeder app when he moved to Colorado from Minnesota as a seventh-grader.

“We saw a great deal of potential as a middle schooler,” Buck said. “You can tell he and he had something particular and a 12-5 set on varsity 25, respectively though he had been wrestling with one practical arm until he had to have elbow surgery. You might begin to find it coming together when he came back his sophomore year that is healthy. ”

Top challengers for Hart inside this weekend’s mount include Brighton freshman Dylan BravoPacker (34-6) along with Northglenn senior Elias Pineda (24-11).

“A top-three finish could be pretty amazing for C.T.,” Hart said. “That would make a name for the program farther, and let people know to come they ought to fear us. We want to be the next Pomona and Ponderosa, and this weekend will be the next step toward that. ”

Other state qualifiers for Cherokee Trail: Derek Glenn, Jr., Soph., 34-6 at 106… Andrew Chilton, Sr., 19-5 at 120… Austin Kammerer, Sr., 21-8 at 126… Jorge Felix, Sr., 30-12 at 138… Brock Labonde, Sr., 36-9 at 152… Connor Davis, Sr., 34-7 at 160… Gavin Young, Sr., 26-10 at 182… Austin Jandik, Sr., 23-10 at 195… Julian Williams, Sr., 28-5 at 285.

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