Gilroy’s wrestling team continues to take honors while being
short-staffed as it finished in third place in a tournament held at
San Ramon Valley High School this past weekend.
Gilroy’s wrestling team continues to take honors while being short-staffed as it finished in third place in a tournament held at San Ramon Valley High School this past weekend.
The Mustangs had all seven individuals taken to the event place, with four winning their respective weight classes.
Heavyweight Luis Barragan received the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler award, pinning each of his opponents in the first round.
The three other champions from Gilroy were 125-pound sophomore Rodney Balajadia, 145-pound sophomore Vincent Aboytes and 171-pound senior Ethan Ogle.
Aboytes had one of the most impressive victories of the tournament, beating Santa Cruz’ Josiah Frampton 6-1 in the finals. Coming into the weekend, Frampton was ranked second in the Central Coast Section.
Other Mustangs that placed in the top eight included 152-pound senior Tim Caspary (3rd place), 140-pound senior Danny Contreras (6th) and 160-pound junior Mike Penyacsek (5th).
Monterey High took first as a team in the tournament while Newark Memorial placed second. According to GHS assistant coach Mike Koester, taking third was “not a bad feat considering we only took half the team.”
Gilroy’s next matches will be Wednesday, when the Mustangs head to Palma for a dual meet. Junior varsity competition will begin at 4:30 p.m.
The varsity team will follow with matches starting at 6:45 p.m.
