Haybalers will send 14 to this weekend’s CCS Championships, move
from first to third place after recently reported scoring error
SALINAS
Coaches from Palma, San Benito and Gilroy likely spent all weekend trying to figure out where points could have been easily gained, and where points were all too easily lost, after Saturday’s wild Tri-County Athletic League Championships in Salinas.
The three wrestling powerhouses – which currently occupy three of the top four team rankings in the Central Coast Section – finished the year-end qualifying tournament in a near-logjam at the top.
But while Gilroy already earned the league title with its perfect 6-0 dual meet record, and San Benito (5-1) managed to stave off Palma (4-2) for runner-up in the league, it was actually the third-place Chieftains who emerged as the TCAL tournament’s victor with 224.5 points.
Gilroy, which had won the TCAL Championships each year since the league’s inception in 2002, finished in a not-so-distant second for the first time with 224 points, a mere half-point out of first.
And San Benito, which fell on the short end of an unfortunate scoring error, compiled 220 points en route to a third-place finish.
When everything was said and done on Saturday, though, the Haybalers exited Palma High School thinking they were tied for first place with the Chieftains. But a scoring error reported on Monday moved the ‘Balers back, from first to third place as a result.
San Benito head coach Brian DeCarli would have liked to have seen a stronger performance out of his team, however, which lost three key opening-round matches at the middle weights.
“You can be wrestling for pennies or peanuts,” DeCarli said, “you still want to put your best foot forward.
“This is TCALs. It’s a good measuring-stick because we’re the toughest league in the section. You do well here, you’ll be competitive at section.”
Trying to figure out which team will be more competitive at the section tournament remains almost impossible to tell after Saturday’s too-close finish, though. All three teams will send their fair share of wrestlers to the Central Coast Section Championships, where all three teams have a strong chance of earning section supremacy.
“Isn’t that amazing?” Gilroy High head coach Armando Gonzalez said of the close finish. “Our league is one of the smallest in the section, yet we’re such a tough league we bring home a large percentage of medals”
And Saturday’s finish, with three teams separated by four points, certainly bodes well towards the league’s tough image.
San Benito and Palma will each send wrestlers from all 14 weight classes to the CCS Championships, scheduled to begin Friday at Independence High School in San Jose.
Gilroy qualified 13 wrestlers, but the Mustangs have six seeded wrestlers, which ties them for the most seeded wrestlers in the tournament with St. Francis and, of course, Palma.
San Benito has four seeded wrestlers, including No. 5 Kenny Salcedo at 105 pounds, No. 2 Junior Davila at 121 pounds, No. 1 Josh Ramirez at 147 pounds and No. 3 Enrique Lucatero at 162 pounds.
Each of those four wrestlers earned TCAL titles on Saturday as well, with the lightweight Salcedo starting the championship round off strong when he pinned Gilroy’s Jasmine Yanez at 1:34.
Meanwhile, Davila didn’t battle Gilroy’s Jesse Delgado at 121 pounds after the Mustang moved down to 112s, but he did pin Gilroy’s Willie Fox at 3:05 in the final, nonetheless.
Ramirez too made quick work of his final opponent when he pinned Sean McVannel of Salinas at 1:59, while Lucatero was champion by default after Gilroy’s Benjamin Torricier suffered an injury in the previous round.
San Benito’s 14 also includes Nikko Espinoza (3rd, 112 pounds), Morris Stevens (4th, 125), Zack Rodriguez (3rd, 130), Geo Coelho (3rd, 135), Steven Borba (2nd, 140), Justin Raine (3rd, 152), Adrian Hernandez (4th, 171), Brantley Mott (4th, 189), Martin Garcia (3rd, 215) and Adam Davis (5th, 285).
“We’re taking a full team,” DeCarli said. “It’s the first tournament that matters.
“I guess we started off right.”
With seven teams in the TCAL, and the top six wrestlers in each weight class advancing to CCS, many teams simply had their wrestlers make weight and win just enough matches in order to qualify within the top six.
With that said, DeCarli felt his team hasn’t wrestled to its full capabilities yet, or even at full strength. Although its taking the maximum amount of wrestlers to CCS, the ‘Balers were battling injuries even at the TCAL Championships.
Heavyweight Adam Davis, who suffered an injury at last week’s dual against Gilroy, took advantage of the fact that there were only five 285-pound wrestlers in the TCAL.
Without wrestling a match, the injured Davis finished fifth and qualified for CCS.
“The cool thing is that we haven’t yet, as a team, wrestled to our full capabilities,” DeCarli said. “We’re never on at the same time. Hopefully we can right that next weekend where we’re all on at the same time.
“If everyone wrestles up to what their capabilities are, then maybe we’ll actually have something.”
TCAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
TEAM
1, Palma, 224.5; 2, Gilroy, 224.0; 3, San Benito, 220.0; 4, Alisal, 145.0; 5, Salinas, 122.5; 6, Everett Alvarez, 41.5; 7, North Salinas, 34.0.
TCAL INDIVIDUALS
105 – K. Salcedo, SB; 2, J. Yanez, GIL; 3, J. Alonzo, ALI; 4, A. Farias, SAL; 5, N. Busby, PALM; 6, A. Fragosco, NS. 112 – 1, J. Delgado, GIL; 2, J. Ramirez, PALM; 3, N. Espinoza, SB; 4, L. Combs, NS; 5, N. Renteria, SAL. 119 – 1, J. Davila, SB; 2, W. Fox, GIL; 3, N. Napolitano, NS; 4, C. Moreno, ALI; 5, C. Gabbert, SAL; 6, S. Eastman, PALM. 125 – 1, M. Gonzalez, GIL; 2, A. Morado, ALI; 3, E. Niizawa, EA; 4, M. Stevens, SB; 5, A. Galapon-Olivas, SAL; 6, J. Gonzalez, PALM. 130 – 1. KC Silacci, PALM; 2, A. Mendez, ALI; 3, Z. Rodriguez, SB; 4, R. Balajadia, GIL; 5, J. Serrano, SAL. 135 – 1, R. Sarmiento, PALM; 2, D. Cerda, SAL; 3, G. Coelho, SB; 4, M. Lucero, GIL; 5, E. Tapia, ALI. 140 – 1, J. Basco, PALM; 2, S. Borba, SB; 3, M. Mendoza, EA; 4, A. Rosso, GIL; 5, D. Guzman, SAL; 6, E. Meza, ALI. 145 – 1, J. Ramirez, SB; 2, S. McVannel, SAL; 3, C. Gollnick, PALM; 4, F. Gonzalez, GIL; 5, J. Antonio; NS; 6, H. Bueno, ALI. 152 – 1, V. Aboytes, GIL; 2, M. Sarmiento, PALM; 3, J. Raine, SB; 4, J. Servin, ALI. 160 – 1, E. Lucatero, SB; 2, B. Torricier, GIL; 3, J. Haro, ALI; 4, A. Martinez, PALM. 171 – 1, D. Santos, PALM; 2, M. Penyacsek, GIL; 3, C. Coronado, ALI; 4, A. Hernandez, SB; 5, N. Castillo, SAL. 189 – 1, Z. Jimenez, PALM; 2, A. Martinez, SAL; 3, I. Fausto, EA; 4, B. Mott, SB; 5, J. Esparza, ALI; 6, S. Nakamura, NS. 215 – 1, H. Baird, PALM; 2, A. Ruvalcalba, ALI; 3, M. Garcia, SB; 4, A. Mireles, GIL; 5, A. Reyes, SAL. 285 – 1, L. Barragan, GIL; 2, E. Swenson, PALM; 3, T. Avila, ALI; 4, C. Steele, SAL; 5, A. Davis, SB.
CENTRAL COAST SECTION SEEDINGS
105
1, Michael Lim, El Camino; 2, Kaeleb Obien, Independence; 3, Paul Rodriguez, Oak Grove,; 4, Alex Le, Seaside, 5, Kenny Salcedo, San Benito; 6, Abel Rascon, Watsonville; ALT, Andres Vargas, Santa Teresa.
114
1, Jesse Delgado, Gilroy; 2, Jarron Ramirez, Palma; 3, Nathan Nguyen, Saratoga; 4, Jordan Yamat, Silver Creek; 5, Jack Hogan, Los Gatos; 6, Johnnie Nguyen, Andrew Hill; ALT, Brian Ha, El Camino.
121
1, Jorge Barajas, St. Francis; 2, Junior Davila, San Benito; 3, Willie Fox, Gilroy; 4, Jeshua Aveno, Santa Teresa; 5, Richard Thompson, Andrew Hill; 6, Josh Go, Overfelt; ALT, Kyle Wade, Aptos.
127
1, Martin Gonzalez, Gilroy; 2, Blake Kastl, St. Francis, 3, Scott Chessin, Los Gatos; 4, Nick Mazza, Riordan; 5, Anthonie Linares, Oak Grove; 6, Tin Pham, Santa Teresa; ALT, Jordan Servito, Lynbrook.
132
1, Al Quenga, Overfelt; 2, Rodney Balajadia, Gilroy; 3, Albert Gaxiola, Mitty; 4, Brandon Lozado, Terra Nova; 5, Jesse Vera, Soledad; 6, Ethan Ruby, Bellarmine; ALT, Sam Hopkins, St. Francis.
137
1, Nick Cano, St. Francis; 2, Shohei Takagi, Prospect; 3, David Laone, Bellarmine; 4, Omri Rahmill, Los Gatos; 5, Marcus Gebhardt, San Mateo; 6, Stefan Weidemann, Gunn; ALT, Dominic Raffin, Willow Glen.
142
1, Cody Rodebaugh, San Lorenzo Valley; 2, Evan Crockett, Silver Creek; 3, Joe Basco, Palma; 4, Chase McDowell, Bellarmine; 5, Steven Fernandez, Live Oak; 6, Manny Mendoza, Alveraz; ALT, Dylan Gorman, Gunn.
147
1, Josh Ramirez, San Benito; 2, Bassel Lutfi, Scotts Valley; 3, Adam Pikington, Bellarmine; 4, Duncan Tormey, Los Altos; 5, Sean McVannel, Salinas; 6, Ray Jacob Jimenez, James Lick; ALT, Nick Guiterraz, Burlingame.
154
1, Jasper Loren, Saratoga; 2, Vincent Aboytes, Gilroy; 3, Michael Ciccarelli, King City; 4, John Maschio, Monterey; 5, Ismael Sanchez, Silver Creek; 6, Mike Sarmiento, Palma; ALT, Sebastian Chene, Leigh.
162
1, Dominic Kastl, St. Francis; 2, Tyler Edwards, Monterey; 3, Patrick Sheehan, Palo Alto; 4, Enrique Lucatero, San Benito; 5, Matt Thalin, The King’s Academy; 6, Enrique Calderon, Los Altos. ALT, Eric Ochoa, King City.
173
1, Omar Al-Helew, Santa Teresa; 2, Logan Kellogg, San Lorezo Valley; 3, Jason Lucchetti, Terra Nova; 4, Jordan Rivera, Prospect; 5, Zack Blumenfeld, Gunn; 6, Jameson Jackson, St. Francis, ALT, Rob Riedler, King City.
191
1, Zach Jimenez, Palma; 2, William Eleazer, Aragon; 3, Ivan Fernandez, Monterey; 4, Alan Yen, Saratoga; 5, Jarvis Subia, Oak Grove; 6, Peipe James, Valley Christian; ALT, Tony Oreglia, Bellarmine.
217
1, Drew Meulman, St. Francis; 2, Hunter Baird, Palma; 3, Rustin Mayorga, El Camino; 4, Jacob Carlos, Burlingame; 5, Juniel Morales, Oak Grove; 6, George Dunlap, Soquel; ALT, Jose Sancen, Soledad.
287
1, Richard Segovia, Silver Creek; 2, Luis Barragan, Gilroy; 3, Evan Swenson, Palma; 4, Chris Tozer, Valley Christian; 5, Max Lohr, Pacific Grove; 6, Brian Newell, Sequoia; ALT, Chris Karabats, Fremont.
