GILROY – Seven Mustangs wrapped up individual titles as the GHS
wrestling team toppled the competition at Saturday’s Tri-County
Athletic League championship tournament, winning the team crown
with 257 overall points.
GILROY – Seven Mustangs wrapped up individual titles as the GHS wrestling team toppled the competition at Saturday’s Tri-County Athletic League championship tournament, winning the team crown with 257 overall points.
Already capturing the league title, going undefeated in dual meets for the eighth straight season, the Mustangs left no doubt at the top of the leader board at this year’s tournament, using 39 points to separate themselves from second place San Benito – a much different outcome in comparison to last year’s fiasco at the top in which the top-three finishers (Palma, Gilroy and San Benito) were spaced by a mere 4.5 points.
The Chieftains eked out the victory by .5 points over the Mustangs. Palma finished fourth Saturday with 146.5 points.
Nine wrestlers appeared in the finals Saturday, two more than second place San Benito’s seven grapplers.
Leif Dominguez (105), Jesse Delgado (125), Willie Fox (132), Blake Kastl (137), Vincente Aboytes (154), Dominic Kastl (162) and Luis Barragan (287) took home first-place medals in their respective weight classes.
Rodney Balajadia (119) and Adam Rosso (147) finished in second place, and Mike Lucero (140) and Andrew Toste (189) achieved third place, punching their tickets to the Central Coast Section championships.
“CCS is coming up and they are getting stronger,” head coach Greg Varela said.
The top-six wrestlers from the TCAL in each weight class advance to CCS. Jasmine Yanez, who won the girls state championship last weekend, will also participate.
“I can’t wait to get back in the room and grind it out,” Varela said with a huge grin on his face. “I know for sure what we need to work on.”
The CCS championships take place in two weeks at Independence High School in San Jose. The Mustangs are seven-time defending champs.
In the past, only one week separated the league tournament and the CCS championships, this year, however, the Mustangs have two weeks to prepare and recuperate.
“I think it will affect us in a good way,” Barragan said. “It gives us time to get in even better shape. It gives us a lot more time to focus on technique. Going into CCS a lot of us are already focused on one person.”
Dominguez, a freshman, had his opponent, Johnny Alonzo of Alisal searching for escapes from the get go in the 103-pound finals. Dominguez posted points in a fury of take downs and near-falls, working his way to a 16-0 technical fall victory.
“I try to listen to my coaches,” Dominguez said. “I’m not a guy who likes to show off, so I just take one match at a time.
Defending state champion and three-time state placer, Delgado, demonstrated another methodical dismantling of a challenger in the 125-pound finals, racking up 22 points in a technical fall triumph over Arturo Morado of Alisal.
Fox, Aboytes, the Kastl brothers and Barragan all came away with pins, with Barragan getting the nod in just 46 seconds.
“It boosted my confidence,” Barragan said. “I hadn’t been able to win a single tournament this year and I’m not used to that.”
Arguably the most intense showdown of the afternoon came in the 119-pound finals, where the Mustangs’ Balajadia took on San Benito’s best wrestler, Junior Davila.
In a rematch of last Wednesday’s pairing in the league-dual meet finale, the two went back and forth, each taking single-leg shots at one another in search of the match-changing attack.
Davila jumped in front with a take down in the first period, but Balajadia responded in the second, taking a more aggressive approach and recording two take downs.
Davila went up 5-4 heading into the third period and capitalized on a Balajadia missed takedown, picking up the senior and slamming him to the mat for two points, to secure a 7-5 win.
“I shouldn’t have given that take down,” said Balajadia, who will most likely get another crack at Davila at CCS. “I just have to get stronger over the next two weeks.”
The Mustangs are currently ranked fourth in the state and first in CCS, according to The California Wrestler.
2010 TCAL Championships
TEAMS
1, Gilroy, 257; 2, San Benito, 218; 3, Alisal, 170; 4, Palma, 146.5; 5, North Salinas 105; 6, Salinas, 99; 7, Everett Alvarez, 24.5.
INDIVIDUAL
103 — 1, L. Dominguez, Gilroy; 2, J. Alonzo, Alisal; 3, A. Espinoza, Everett Alvarez; 4, N. Busby, Palma; 5, A. Gatto, San Benito; 6, A. Fragoso, North Salinas.
112 — 1, E. Lopez, Alisal; 2, N. Renteria, Salinas; 3, J. Gonzalez, Palma; 4, R. Rodriguez, San Benito; 5, G. Martinez, North Salinas; 6, J. Yanez, Gilroy.
119 — 1, J. Davila, San Benito; 2, R. Balajadia, Gilroy; 3, C. Moreno, Alisal; 4, S. Eastman, Palma; 5, L. Combs, North Salinas; 6, A. Farias, Salinas.
125 — 1, J. Delgado, Gilroy; 2, A. Morado, Alisal; 3, J. Garcia, San Benito; 4, C. Palacios, Palma; 5, A. Galapon Olivas, Salinas.
130 — 1, W. Fox, Gilroy; 2, Z. Rodriguez, San Benito; 3, A. Nunez, North Salinas; 4, O. Mendez, Alisal; 5, N. Short, Palma; 6, C. Perales, Salinas.
135 — 1, B. Kastl, Gilroy; 2, E. Meza, Alisal; 3, E. Henry, San Benito; 4, D. Proa, Salinas; 5, A. Reyes, Palma.
140 — 1, E. Tapia, Alisal; 2, M. Soto, San Benito; 3, M. Lucero, Gilroy; 4, A. Noza, North Salinas; 5, E. Farfan, Palma.
145 — 1, T. Christenson, San Benito; 2, A. Rosso, Gilroy; 3, R. Sarmiento, Palma; 4, E. Antonio, North Salinas; 5, C. Ivey, Salinas; 6, A, Gonzalez, Alisal.
152 — 1, V. Aboytes, Gilroy; 2, S. McVannel, Salinas; 3, N. Abulencia, Palma; 4, J. Antonio, North Salinas; 5, E. Ortega, San Benito; 6, J. Ochoa, Alisal.
160 — 1, D. Kastl, Gilroy; 2, M. Sarmiento, Palma; 3, D. Guzman, Salinas; 4, J. Raine, San Benito; 5, H. Bueno, Alisal; 6, J. Rodriguez, North Salinas.
171 — 1, A. Berber, Alisal; 2, L. Diller, San Benito; 3, A. Martinez, Palma; 4, B. Torricer, Gilroy.
189 — 1, M. Martin del Campo, San Benito; 2, N. Castillo, Salinas; 3, A. Toste, Gilroy; 4, R. Galvan, Everett Alvarez; 5, S. Nakamura, North Salinas; 6, J. Pulealii, Palma.
215 — 1, A. Davis, San Benito; 2, G. Omictin, North Salinas; 3, J. Talauban, Palma.
285 — 1, L. Barragan, Gilroy; 2, B. Pulealii, Palma; 3, T. Avila, Alisal; 4, C. Flores, North Salinas; 5, M. Avila, Salinas; 6, N. Angelo, San Benito.
