Gilroy High grapplers win tourney title, finish with 5
individual champs.
CASTRO VALLEY – Eleven Gilroy High grapplers competed in the weekend Bay Area Invite – taking home the team championship, five weight class titles, two runner-ups, and one fourth-place finish.
The Mustang matmen compiled a tournament-high 198 1/2 points – more than 50 points ahead of the second-place team with 140 points. There were 28 schools in the field – most of which were from the North Coast Section.
Freshmen Adin Dueñas (112 pounds) and Armando Gonzalez (119 pounds) both won championships in their very first varsity tournaments. In addition, 130-pounder Chad Haygood, 140-pounder Andrew Rauss and 171-pounder Mark Zabala all brought back weight-class championships.
Junior 103-pounder John Gurich – who defaulted in the finals so he could make the Christmas Ball at Gilroy High – finished in second place as well as 125-pounder Danny San Juan.
At 145 pounds, Callan Romesberg wrestled to fourth place. At 152 pounds, Miguel Maldonado reached the semifinals and finished with a 2-2 record. At 160 pounds, Martin Serrano went 0-2 and, at 189 pounds, Jose Albarran – who also left early for the Ball – won his first match and lost his second.
Up next, the gifted Gilroy grapplers will compete in the Coast Classics at Santa Cruz High on Friday and Saturday.
