And sometimes, the strangest.

Thursday night at the Pepsi Center, Poudre High School's Derek Whitman was charged with flagrant misconduct and disqualified 1 minute, 40 seconds into his first-round match with Arapahoe High School's Ryan Bok for, as officials ruled, biting Bok on the right forearm. Whitman also is disqualified from the remaining consolation rounds of the Class 5A tournament, which includes today and Saturday.

Bok led 6-0 when the match was stopped. He was on top of Whitman from behind and had his right arm wrapped around Whitman's head.

Bok stopped wrestling and showed officials a mark on his right forearm. The official quickly ended the match. On the mat, Whitman denied biting Bok and said Bok was rubbing his forearm back on forth in Whitman's mouth, against his teeth.

Whitman, a senior, declined comment 25 minutes after match ended.

Tournament director Paul Angelica said that according to the official rules, the referee working the match "could not have not called" the flagrant misconduct. Angelica said it was the last thing the official wanted to do.

Bert Borgmann, Colorado High School Sports Association's associate commissioner, said that the tournament officials were notified of what happened shortly afterward.

"I think there's no question, under the rules, it meets the criteria for disqualification," Borgmann said.

After the match, tournament directors asked Poudre coach Barret Golyer to stay with Whitman, who was upset. After the coach accompanied Whitman under the stands and, along with members of his coaching staff, spoke with his athlete, he was called to the tournament director's table and asked if he understood the ruling for what had happened. Golyer said he did. But he told the Coloradoan he did not agree with it.

"I'm heartbroken," Golyer said. "I want to puke right now. That's how I feel."

"The ref said the rule says if a kid says he's being bitten and stops the match and sees there are tooth marks on the arm, then it's a flagrant misconduct and he is disqualified from the match and from the rest of the tournament," Golyer said. "Derek says he did not bite him, and I believe him. I've worked with Derek for four years and if he said that, I believe the guy."

"The ref said there were two rows of teeth marks on (Bok's) arms."

Whitman won last week's Region 3 title and entered the state championships with a 20-1 record and a top seed thanks to his aggressive style and physical strength. He took third place last year as a junior and qualified for the state tournament in 2003 as a sophomore.

Whitman is home-schooled and lives on a dairy farm. He is described by coaches at Poudre as respectful and gentle, off the mat. He ends his career holding Poudre's career pins record.

Whitman was one of six Poudre wrestlers competing Thursday in the opening round of the state tournament. Two teammates, Anthony Doyle at 112 pounds and his brother Brandon at 140, won. Six of Rocky's nine wrestlers and two of Collins' four, both in overtime, advanced to today's quarterfinals. Rocky finished the first day fifth in team standings with 16½ points, the most from a city program.

But the night's biggest story from a Fort Collins standpoint centered around Whitman. He sat surrounded by friends and loved ones in the stands after his disqualification, waiting for his team to leave.

Beneath him on the arena's floor, Rocky coach Ken Taylor diligently answered questions about his team's success and its chances for today, but even he seemed disturbed by what happened.

"Absolutely not," Taylor said when asked if he's seen anything in Whitman over the past four years that would lead him to think he might bite someone in a match. "He's a class guy from a class family."

"Never in my wildest dream would I think something like that could happen."