Maricopa High School will be represented by at least 10 wrestlers, and possibly 11, at the AIA Division II Section II Tournament Friday and Saturday at Tucson's Flowing Wells High School.

Leading the way will be Adolfo Franco at 138 pounds, the Rams’ only returning state qualifier from last season. He has posted a 32-10 record this year and is a strong possibility to qualify for state.

The top five wrestlers from each weight class automatically move on to state competition, which will be held Feb. 10-11 at Tim’s Toyota Center in Prescott Valley. To have a 16-man bracket at each class, the wrestler with the best overall season record among the three sixth place finishers at the sectionals will gain the last berth and be seeded 16th.

Maricopa head coach Ryan Nachreiner said he is optimistic several of his athletes can reach the state level, but knows they are going to have to be at their best this weekend.

“We definitely have kids that can qualify. We’re going to have to wrestle our tail off,” he said.

“We’ve only wrestled against four of the teams in our section. If we show up and wrestle well we could qualify a few to state.

The question involving how many athletes the Rams will have available revolves around 106-pound freshman Rudy Munoz.

Nachreiner said he had high hopes for Munoz at the beginning of the season; however he fractured his clavicle in just his fourth match of the year. Nachreiner is hopeful the wrestler will be cleared to compete during a doctor’s visit Wednesday. If he is able to wrestle he will automatically be seeded near the bottom because of the limited number of matches he had this season.

106: Rudy Munoz (2-1) – pending medical clearance
120: Collin Blackburn (0-0) or Quincy Polk (3-9) -- wrestle off Wednesday
132: Ryan Dougherty (28-13)
138: Adolfo Franco (32-10)
145: Kenny Gay (8-13)
152: Tyler Becking (13-22)
160: Walter Ibarra (21-12)
182: Kyle Kingery (20-9)
220: Takoda Ball (21-9)
285: Jake Ford (17-21)