GILROY — This weekend Gilroy isn’t just the Garlic Capital of the World, it becomes the epicenter for high school wrestling as well.
More than 80 teams from around California and two from Nevade will transcend upon Gilroy High this weekend for the 2014 Mid-California Wrestling. The tournament, started in 1981, is a chance for these wrestlers to test their skills before heading into the sectional and state meets. Competition starts at 9 a.m. today and Saturday. The semifinals are slated to start at 10 a.m. Saturday with finals at 5 p.m. Admission is $7 for each day and an additional $5 for the finals.
“It’s the Garlic Festival for Gilroy wrestling,” Gilroy coach Greg Varela said. “We take a lot of pride in it. We like to make sure people have a good time and have fun and it’s good competition.”
Top-ranked wrestlers like Gilroy’s Nikko Villarreal and Paul Fox and Christopher’s Jimmie Lopez and Alex Garcia and Sobrato’s Brandon LeFore will face off against wrestlers in one of the Bay Area’s biggest tournaments.
“It is a very tough tournament,” Christopher coach Alecxis Lara said. “Alex (Garcia) hasn’t wrestled at the Mid-Cal level of competition yet this year and a few guys are coming off injuries, but they’re in shape. We should make a pretty deep impact, we should have a lot of placers at Mid-Cals and possibly even three or four finalists.”
Varela said the Mustangs have their eye on Buchanan, who finished ahead of them at the Doc Buchanan Invitational Jan. 4 at Clovis. Gilroy is ranked No. 4 in the state with Buchanan nipping at its heels at No. 5.
“We’re expecting very tough competition,” Varela said. “We have a large group of CCS teams, which is what we’re apart of, so it’s a great barometer for where we’re at and what we’re going to see. These matches count; They seed the CCS Tournament on head-to-head matches against each other at the end of the year. These matches count, they count for everything.”
Here’s a breakdown by weight class on who to keep an eye on this weekend:
106
Felipe Duenas, freshman, Christopher — Duenas is ranked No. 5 in the Central Coast Section.
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Gavin Melendez, sophomore, Gilroy — Melendez is ranked No. 8 in CCS, losing to Duenas by pin at the two team’s dual meet Jan. 15 at Gilroy.
113
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Jimmie Lopez, senior, Christopher — Lopez is a defending CCS champion and is ranked No. 1 in CCS. He’s No. 20 in the California Interscholastic Federation state ranking and is a returning state qualifier.
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Victor Daza, junior, Gilroy — Daza is ranked No. 3 in CCS and is an honorable mention in the CIF rankings.
Gabriel Reyes, freshman, Sobrato — Reyes is ranked No. 7 in CCS>
120
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Jesse Vasquez, junior, Gilroy — Vasquez is a defending CCS champion and is ranked No. 9 in the state, No. 1 in CCS. He qualified for the state meet last season.
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Adam Mena, freshman, Christopher — Mena is ranked No. 9 in CCS.
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Mario Achondo, sophomore, Christopher — Achondo received a mention in the CCS rankings.
126
Victor Olmos, senior, Gilroy — Olmos is a defending CCS champion, qualifying him for the state tournament last season. He is ranked No. 10 in the state and No. 1 in CCS.
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Raul Meza, senior, Christopher — Meza is ranked No. 6 in CCS this season. He fell 9-1 to Olmos during the dual meet Jan. 15.
132
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Isaiah Locsin, senior, Gilroy — Locsin was a state medalist for Live Oak last season and is ranked No. 1 in CCS. He is unranked in CIF as he is awaiting word whether or not he’ll be allowed to wrestle this season after his transfer request to Gilroy was denied.
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Keanu Calimpong, freshman, Christopher — Calimpong received an honorable mention in the CCS rankings. He gave Gilroy’s Daza stiff competition, eventually falling 5-0 during the dual meet Jan. 15.
138
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Nikko Villarreal, senior, Gilroy — Villarreal is ranked No. 1 in this weight class in CCS and No. 1 in state at 145. He is a defending state and CCS champion and is undefeated entering Mid-Cals.
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Lupe Jimenez, senior, Gilroy — Jimenez is No. 25 in state in this weight class, No. 3 in CCS at 152 and was a CCS finalist last season.
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Tobias Mendoza, sophomore, Christopher — Mendoza is ranked No. 17 in CCS.
145
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Nikko Villarreal, senior, Gilroy — Villarreal is No. 1 in CIF and a defending state and CCS champion. He’s ranked No. 1 in CCS in the 138 lb. class and is undefeated so far this season.
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Paul Fox, senior, Gilroy — Fox is ranked No. 1 is CCS and No. 1 in state in the 152 lb. class. He was a runner-up at the state meet and is a defending CCS champion. He’s undefeated so far this season.
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Jacob Myers, junior, Christopher — Myers is ranked No. 14 in CCS.
Daniel Barbosa, senior, Gilroy — Barbosa was mentioned, but no ranked in CCS.
152
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Paul Fox, senior, Gilroy — Fox is No. 1 in the state and No. 1 in CCS in the 145 lb. class. He was a runner-up at the state meet and is a defending CCS champion. He’s undefeated so far this season.
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Alex Garcia, junior, Christopher — Garcia is ranked No. 14 in the state and No. 2 in CCS. He qualified for the state meet last season.
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Lupe Jimenez, senior, Gilroy — Jimenez is ranked No. 3 in CCS and No. 25 in the state in the 138 lb. weight class. He was a CCS finalist.
Jasper Jaregui, junior, Gilroy — Jaregui was mentioned, but not ranked in CCS.
160
Brandon LeFore, senior, Sobrato — Lefore is ranked No. 17 in the state, No. 1 in CCS. He’s a defending CCS champion.
Javier Aragon, sophomore, Gilroy — Aragon is ranked No. 4 in CCS and is mentioned but unranked in state.
170
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Matt Penyascek, junior, Gilroy — Penyascek is No. 5 in the state and No. 1 in CCS. He was a CCS finalist last season.
182
Mark Penyascek, junior, Gilroy — Mark is No. 5 in CIF and No. 1 in CCS. He was a CCS finalist last season.
Mark Garcia, freshman, Gilroy — Garcia received an honorable mention in the CCS rankings.
195
Julian Carbajal, senior, Gilroy — Carabajal is ranked No. 4 in CCS and is mentioned, but unranked in CIF. He was a CCS finalist last season.
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Noe Garcia, sophomore, Gilroy — Garcia is tied at No. 4 in CCS with teammate Carbajal.
220
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Heavyweight
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Navi Pannu, senior, Christopher — Pannu is ranked No. 10 in CCS.
Note: All CCS and CIF rankings are as of Jan. 22.
