Year: 2019
Award: Wrestling, High School
Location/Affiliation: Valley High School
- Finished Fourth at Boys State Tourney
- First Female to Finish Top Four at Boys Wrestling State Tournament
- Gold Medalist at the 2017 Cadet Pan-Am Games
Angel Rios wrestles for Valley High School in Gilcrest, just south of Greeley. Angel made history in 2019 at the Colorado State High School Wrestling Championships, which until just over a decade ago had been a tournament competed exclusively by boys. When Angel took fourth place in the 3A 106 pound classification, she became the first girl to finish that high.
Angel brings plenty of “cred” to the wrestling mat. Born into a family of wrestlers, Angel won the Gold Medal in the 2017 Cadet Pan-Am Games.
At the 2019 State Tournament, she lost in the first round, then battled back through the consolation bracket where she met Justin Torrez for the second time. He’s the one who’d beaten her in that first round match, but this time it was Angel who scored the win, 4-2 in overtime. Her final match was in the consolation semifinals. And, even though she lost that one in a 3-2 nail-biter, she still secured her place in Colorado wrestling history with her fourth place finish. In 2019, Angel Rios also made history by becoming the first female regional wrestling champion.