President's Award

Central Girls, East Boys Wrestling Champions Earn President's Award for 2025-26

The Greater Pueblo Sports Association (GPSA) attended two recent school assemblies to honor two schools that won back-to-back Colorado State Wrestling Team Championships. Pueblo Central Wildcats (Girls) on Feb. 26, and Pueblo East Eagles (boys) on March 10, to present those respective teams with the GPSA President’s Award.

The President’s Award is given out to those Pueblo schools that have captured high school state championship team titles. The Pueblo Central girls' wrestling team, coached by Chris Gutierrez, made history as the first girls' team from Pueblo to win back-to-back team state wrestling titles and broke the record for the most points scored for a girls' team in CHSAA history (194 points).

The Wildcats had two individual wrestlers win state titles. 100 lbs.: Junior Acelyn Duran (38-4) won her second individual state title; Junior Gionna Duran (no relation to Acelyn) won her first state title in the 115-lb. bracket (41-7).

In his two seasons, Gutierrez has coached three individual state champions while winning back-to-back state girls wrestling titles.

On the boys' side of the podium, Pueblo East won the 4A team title, its fourth team state title in five years and fifth in seven years. The Eagles won with a team score of 158.5 points, defeating second-place Roosevelt for the second year in a row. The RoughRiders from Johnstown, CO, finished with 141 points.

The Eagles placed nine wrestlers to win their fourth Class 4A state championship in the last five years. Second in a row at Ball Arena in Denver, CO. Uriah Duran (113 pounds), Elijah Contreras (190), Justus Freeman (157), and Michael McCullough (215) fueled the Eagles as they all claimed runner-up finishes.

The following Eagles who also placed were:
Noah Sanchez (106 pounds, fourth), Jason Soto (120 pounds, fifth), Michael Banuelos (138 pounds, sixth), Giovanni Sanchez (144 pounds, fourth), and Logan Trujillo (165 pounds, sixth) all scored points for the Eagles, helping them win back-to-back state titles.

Both coach Gutierrez (Pueblo Central) and Lundquist (Pueblo East) were named Colorado High School Coaches Association (CHSCA) Wrestling “Coach-of-the-Year” in 2026. Lundquist and Gutierrez also received “Coach-of-the-Year” honors for 2025.

The Greater Pueblo Sports Association (GPSA) membership voted in 2023 to begin presenting a president's award for teams that win state titles beginning the 2022-23 academic year. GPSA members attend the state championship assembly and present an award.

Past Presidents' Awards