Martin Gonzalez didn’t take long to let the competition know
he’s back.
Going 3-0 to take first place in the 130-pound division at this
past weekend’s Gary Bianchini Memorial Wrestling Tournament at
Cupertino High School, the state champion of a year ago showed no
signs of the nagging knee injury which forced him to sit out the
first six weeks of the season until Saturday.
CUPERTINO – Martin Gonzalez didn’t take long to let the competition know he’s back.
Going 3-0 to take first place in the 130-pound division at this past weekend’s Gary Bianchini Memorial Wrestling Tournament at Cupertino High School, the state champion of a year ago showed no signs of the nagging knee injury which forced him to sit out the first six weeks of the season until Saturday.
“He pretty much cruised through that tournament,” Gilroy assistant coach Mike Koester said. “Martin looked better than he did last year when he won state.”
Gonzalez wasn’t the only Gilroy High wrestler to rip through the competition. Out of the 10 Mustangs in attendance, seven made the finals and five finished as champions.
In addition to Martin Gonzalez, Gilroy’s Aaron Gonzalez won the 112-pound title, Jesse Delgado took first at 125s, Vincent Aboytes was the 152-pound champ and Luis Barragan was first among all heavyweights.
Rodney Balajadia (135 pounds) and Benjamin Torricer (160) both took second place, while Jasmine Yanez (103) captured third. Fabian Laredo (215) lost his first match, but rebounded to take seventh place by winning his last three.
Overall, Gilroy finished in second to St. Francis, which brought enough wrestlers to fill all 14 weight classes. The Lancers, most likely Gilroy’s main challenger at the Central Coast Section meet later this season, had four in the finals and three champions.
Koester said there were plenty of excellent performances to go around, but the coach singled out Ben Torricer as the biggest surprise of the tournament. Torricer, just a sophomore, was tied 4-4 with Kastl, a two-time CCS champion, when the Lancer was injured and could not continue.
Torricer added a pin of Fremont’s Kenny La before losing to Patrick Sheehan of Palo Alto in the finals.
Koester added that Aboytes, Barragan and Delgado were also extremely impressive.
Delgado was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler after recording three pins and a major decision.
Gilroy will host Alisal in the first Tri-County Athletic League dual of the season at 6 p.m. tonight.
Junior Varsity Note
Gilroy’s junior varsity wrestling team competed at Cupertino 2nd Man tournament held Friday, with David Siha (103) taking second, Felix Gonzalez (152) finishing seventh and heavyweight Alfredo Mireles taking third.
Team Scores
1. 223.0 ST Francis High School
2. 220.0 Gilroy High School
3. 159.0 Santa Teresa High School
4. 130.0 Palma High School
5. 91.5 Fremont High School
6. 86.0 Palo Alto High School
7. 83.0 Serra High School
8. 79.5 Bellarmine High School
9. 74.0 George Washington High School
10. 72.5 Cupertino High School
