Acelyn Duran and Gionna Duran have their similarities.
They look alike, they enjoy the same music, they love wrestling — oh, and they are both state champions.
And no, they aren't related.
For Acelyn Duran, she became the first-ever back-to-back girls champion in Pueblo after capturing the title on Saturday, Feb. 21, by defeating Yliani Garcia of La Junta in the 100-pound girls Class 4A championship bout.
Gionna Duran earned her first individual title, joining Lilianna Lopez (2025) and Acelyn Duran (2025-26) as the only girls to win a title from Pueblo.
“I was just thinking to myself, 'You better hang on, because I've worked too hard to just not get that last win,'” Gionna Duran said. “I was expecting it to be a hard, scrappy match. I just went in there, and I thought, 'Let's just go six minutes, super hard,' and I'm super proud of myself.”
Because of the two title winners, the Pueblo Central girls wrestling team claimed back-to-back Class 4A championships.
The girls narrowly escaped with the title this year, beating out Severance Girls 115.5-102.5.
“We brought 11 girls,” head coach Chris Gutierrez said. “The outcome wasn't what we expected. We placed four of them. Those four girls put it on their backs, and that's what hard work is all about. These girls come in, they put everything into this sport, and they gave it their all, and look at the outcome.”
The Pueblo East Eagles also won back-to-back state team titles this year, their fourth in the last five years. They were in a commanding lead coming into the finals and held on throughout the night, 158.5-141 over Roosevelt.
The Eagles advanced four wrestlers to the finals of the championships, each finishing in second. They won the state team title despite not having an individual state champion.
“Wrestling is unique,” Pueblo East head coach Tyler Lundquist said. “Every 10 minutes, I'm either on the high of a high or the low of a low, or everything in between. It's not like other sports where you win the big game, and then you enjoy it for the rest of the night.
"So, it's hard at the moment to understand that I'm about to go pick up that trophy, just because there's a lot of heartache involved. But, you know, wrestling is unique, like that. There's a lot of heartache.”
The title win highlights the continued dominance of the Eagles program.
“These guys are brawlers, and that's what I love about them,” Lundquist said. “Other people know when you're wrestling the Pueblo East Eagles, it's going to be a fistfight out there, and I take a lot of pride in that. But within that is a lot of skill, technique and everything in between. These guys have it; they work their butts off. There's not a single guy in that room who doesn't show up every day like it's a job, and just puts in hours, and you get this, not a single champion to be heard of, but we're collectively a champion.”
4A Boys
- Elias Koonce (Canon City) dec. Elijah Contreras (Pueblo East), 14-11
- Michael Garcia (Roosevelt) TF Michael McCullough (Pueblo East), 4:04
- Simon Carter (Severance) MD Elijah Algien (Pueblo South), 13-1
- Daniel Romero (Greeley Central) pinned Urijah Duran (Pueblo East), 2:55
- David Burchett Jr. (Air Academy) DEC SV Justus Freeman (Pueblo East), 4-1
4A Girls
- Acelyn Duran (Pueblo Central) MD Yliani Garcia (La Junta), 13-0
- Gionna Duran (Pueblo Central) MD Isabella Ortiz (La Junta), 18-7
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo Central girls, Pueblo East boys wrestling teams win state