Five Gilroy High wrestlers were held out of this past weekend’s
Mission San Jose Wrestling Invitational, three due to lingering
skin infections, leaving the team with just eight bodies at the
event.
The lack of numbers still didn’t stop the Mustangs from taking
fourth as a team, with all eight wrestlers making it to the second
day, as well as two individuals – Jesse Delgado (114 pounds) and
Martin Gonzalez (127) – walking away as champions.
SAN JOSE – Five Gilroy High wrestlers were held out of this past weekend’s Mission San Jose Wrestling Invitational, three due to lingering skin infections, leaving the team with just eight bodies at the event.
The lack of numbers still didn’t stop the Mustangs from taking fourth as a team, with all eight wrestlers making it to the second day, as well as two individuals – Jesse Delgado (114 pounds) and Martin Gonzalez (127) – walking away as champions.
Willie Fox (121) took third, Rodney Balajadia (132) and Luis Barragan (287) took sixth, and Jasmine Yanez (105), Adam Rosso (142) and Felix Gonzalez (154) all went 2-2.
Regarding the wrestlers who were held out of competition due to skin conditions found after the Mid Cals tournament held at GHS on Jan. 23-24, Gilroy coach Armando Gonzalez said all will be fine by the time the Tri-County Athletic League championships are held Friday and Saturday at Palma High School in Salinas. The top six in each weight class at that meet will move on to the Central Coast Section championships, which Gilroy has won as a team the last six seasons.
“We haven’t had a big issue with skin conditions or epidemics (in the past),” Gonzalez said. “We got them cleared up after their exposure, but I didn’t want to rush them into competition (at Mission) until they were completely dried out.”
The source of the problem, Gilroy assistant coach Greg Varela said, came from visiting Prospect High School.
“I hate to put some other teams out there, but Prospect put some kids out there they shouldn’t have,” Varela said. “We talked to their coaches and they apologized.”
Gonzalez did a skin check of every junior varsity and varsity wrestler at practice Monday and said “everybody is clean.”
“By sections it wont even be an issue,” Gonzalez added. “I just want to make sure that they’re all healthy at the end of the year.”
A shakeup was made in Gilroy’s lineup at Mission, as Delgado dropped from the 121-pound weight class to 114s, swapping divisions with Fox. The two are expected to compete at these weights the rest of the season.
“I think he all along already [Delgado] knew he wanted to (move down),” Gonzalez said. “We didn’t ask him to do it. He wanted to do it.”
While the decision improves Delgado’s chances at state, it might not help the Mustangs against a tough St. Francis squad at CCS and then other strong teams at state.
“That takes points off the board for us, and opens up the door for St. Francis, which was already going to push us as it was,” Varela said.
He added that the move was approved to make Delgado, a legitimate state title favorite at either weight, as comfortable as possible.
“When you get down to this part of the season, you want them to be as mentally prepared and focused as possible,” Varela said.
Martin Gonzalez’ crown in the 127-pound division is proof that the returning state champ is ready for the stretch run, his father and coach said.
“Martin’s ready to go,” Armando Gonzalez said. “He’s all the way back.
As for how close tonight’s 6 p.m. meet against San Benito will be, with a few of the top GHS wrestlers being held out until TCALs, Gonzalez admitted the score could be closer than usual. Having never lost a TCAL dual, a loss would qualify as an upset.
“I think tomorrow is going to be a very good, exciting match,” Gonzalez said. “It’s going to be highly contested. A lot of matches could go either way. We have a lot of individual stars, but they have a very balanced lineup.”
