Gilroy wrestlers vie for fourth consecutive section title after
easily winning league last week
With an annual budget 10 times what its closest competitor in
league has to work with, and a slew of talent on its roster, nobody
was surprised to see the Gilroy High School wrestling team cruise
to its fourth consecutive Tri County Athletic League title last
Saturday. And no one will be surprised this week if the Mustangs
continue that dominance at the Central Coast Section
Championships.
”
Our goal is to win our fourth CCS title in a row, too,
”
said Gilroy Assistant Coach Mike Koester.
”
The top four wrestlers in CCS go on to state. We also want to
qualify as many as we can for the state tournament, too.
”
Gilroy wrestlers vie for fourth consecutive section title after easily winning league last week
With an annual budget 10 times what its closest competitor in league has to work with, and a slew of talent on its roster, nobody was surprised to see the Gilroy High School wrestling team cruise to its fourth consecutive Tri County Athletic League title last Saturday. And no one will be surprised this week if the Mustangs continue that dominance at the Central Coast Section Championships.
“Our goal is to win our fourth CCS title in a row, too,” said Gilroy Assistant Coach Mike Koester. “The top four wrestlers in CCS go on to state. We also want to qualify as many as we can for the state tournament, too.”
At the TCAL championship at Gilroy High, the Mustangs had 13 wrestlers advance to the championship matches. Nine of them walked off the mats with individual titles; three Gilroy wrestlers took second and another placed third.
The Mustangs are ranked fifth in the state.
“We pretty much expected our kids to wrestle well. We pretty much dominated,” Koester said. “We were happy with the way they wrestled.”
The closest team to Gilroy High last Saturday was San Benito High, which finished 56 points behind Gilroy’s winning total of 270.50. Local schools Sobrato took fifth with 94 points while Live Oak finished in last place with 63.
Gilroy High jumped out to an early lead on wins by Martin Gonzalez in the 103-pound division and Nico Naranjo in the 112-pound division and never looked back.
In the first seven weight classes, Gilroy’s only hiccup came in the 119-pound class – the lone class it had to forfeit after losing its top wrestler in that class to academic ineligibility just days before.
After Armando Gonzalez captured the 140-pound title, the Mustangs hit a lull until Hunter Collins picked up the win for the host team in the 171-pound division. Gilroy then proceeded to capture the 189-pound class and the heavyweight title to cruise to an easy victory.
Afterwards, San Benito coach Matt Olejnik, whose team picked up a forfeit win over Gilroy earlier in the season at a league dual meet, pointed out that a big part of Gilroy’s recent success is also its ability to fund-raise.
“Our total budget is $3,000. I heard that Gilroy is down to about $31,000 now. We’re down to $3 in our budget right now,” Olejnik said. “They have the Garlic Festival to generate money for them every year. That festival alone usually brings in about $15,000 for them. We don’t have the local things like they do. That allows them to compete every weekend year-round.”
Despite the all of Gilroy’s advantages, the Haybalers had a strong enough showing in the league’s season-ending event to qualify 13 wrestlers to this week’s CCS meet. The top four wrestlers in league earn automatic berths into the CCS championships.
“We could have gotten one more guy in the finals,” Olejnik said. “All in all, six made it to the finals and two won it. This is the first time that I can remember that all of the teams in the league looked strong.”
With Gilroy’s top 119-pounder ineligible for the meet, the Balers picked up an individual title in that division when San Benito’s Chris Mora beat Palma wrestler Wyatt Young by a 10-2 margin.
San Benito’s Ryan Dunn also cruised to an 8-0 victory over Gilroy’s Daniel Gamez in the 215-pound division.
Considering the fact that Sobrato High School didn’t exist two years ago, the Bulldogs managed to qualify five of the seven wrestlers that competed in the TCALs for CCS.
“I’m very happy with where we are at,” said Sobrato coach Phil Luna, who coached last year at Willow Glen High School in San Jose. “We were 1-5 in dual meets this year but we lost two of them by four points. That’s a difference of just one guy not competing in the match. So we could have easily gone 3-3 in this league.”
One Sobrato wrestler that fell into the category that Luna was talking about was Moses Delardo. Delardo missed the final two weeks at the end of the season after catching pneumonia but was back competing in the TCAL tournament, where he took second in the 125-pound class.
The lone Sobrato wrestler that did win a league title was Victor Gillespie, who captured the 160-pound class.
Although Luna was pleased with the strong performances, he went on to say that getting to Gilroy’s skill level is light years away.
“I think winning league is an afterthought to them,” he said. “But my kids aren’t intimidated. Actually, it’s nice to be in this league with Gilroy because you can tell the kids that this is what they need to shoot for.”
Next year Sobrato will be competing in the Blossom Valley Athletic League along with cross-town rival Live Oak.
“I have a real young team, but we did fine,” said Live Oak coach Robert Fernandez. “I expected Gilroy to win and Hollister to come in second like last year. Next year, I have some good kids that are coming up and I’m only losing two seniors so we should be solid.”
In all, the Acorns qualified five wrestlers to CCS. They were freshman Tony Morales, who qualified in the 103-pound division; senior Jason Hendersen, who made CCS in the 130-pound division; senior Buck Tanner earned a spot to CCS in the 140-pound divisions; and juniors Brett Jones and Tom Method earned spots in the 152 and heavyweight divisions, respectively.
“I was especially happy with Tom Method,” said Fernandez. “He wrestled JV for most of the season, but we brought him up for this and he stepped it up. He wrestled his best when it counted.”
In previous years the top five wrestlers in the league finals earned spots in the prestigious section meet. With only the top four qualifying for CCS this year, 14 fewer athletes this year made it to the section meet.
TCAL Results at Gilroy High, Feb. 11
1 270.50 Gilroy
2 214.00 San Benito
3 159.50 Palma
4 119.00 Salinas
5 94.00 Sobrato
6 80.00 North Salinas
7 63.00 Live Oak
Championship Matches
103 Martin Gonzalez, Gilroy T-Fall Ryan Block, Salinas, 18-1
112 Nicolo Naranjo, Gilroy Fall Nico Cerna, Salinas, 1:30
119 Chris Mora, San Benito M-Dec Wyatt Young, Palma, 10-2
125 Rudy Maldonado, Gilroy Dec Moses Delardo, Sobrato, 3-1
130 Chris Krough, Gilroy M-Dec Luis Boracio, San Benito, 16-4
135 Adin Duenas, Gilroy Fall Zach Jimenez, Palma, 2:55
140 Armando Gonzalez, Gilroy M-Dec Fernando Lucatero, San Benito, 16-2
145 Isaiah Jimenez, Palma Dec Nilo Velasquez, San Benito, 5-1
152 Marco Orozco, Salinas M-Dec Austin Gubrud, Gilroy, 13-4
160 Victor Gillespie, Sobrato Dec Julian Gomez, Gilroy, 5-3
171 Hunter Collins, Gilroy Fall Josh Sanchez, San Benito, 3:08
189 Andres Barragan, Gilroy Fall Jonathan Dill, Palma, 1:38
215 Ryan Dunn, San Benito M-Dec Daniel Gamez, Gilroy, 8-0
275 Luis Chavez, Gilroy Dec Genaro Redmond, Sobrato, 3-1
3rd Place Matches
103 Armando Lerma, San Benito Dec Jarron Ramirez, Palma, 5-2
112 Michael Mc Chesney, Sobrato Dec Morris Stevens, San Benito, 8-6
119 Jairo Rodriguez, Salinas Dec Michael Tanagon, North Salinas, 9-4
125 Jesus Sagero, San Benito T-Fall Mathew Acierto, Salinas, 17-2
130 Johnathon Mc Griff, North Salinas Dec Jason Henderson, Live Oak, 6-3
135 Chris Flippo, San Benito Dec Jake Ortiz, Sobrato, 8-6
140 Justin Orozco, Salinas Dec Cuong Nguyen, North Salinas, 6-4
145 Ethan Ogle, Gilroy Fall Jesus Rangel, North Salinas, 4:29
152 Max Panziera, Palma Fall Josh Ramirez, San Benito, :28
160 Jay Ybarra, San Benito Dec Antonio Leal, North Salinas, 15-7
171 Hunter Baird, Palma Advanced through BYE
189 Manny Tovar, San Benito Dec Santigo Erazo, Salinas, 5-1
215 Jeff Cabatu, Palma Fall Gary Leal, Salinas, 3:53
275 Evan Swenson, Palma Fall Tom Method, Live Oak, 1:27
5th Place Matches
103 Tony Morales, Live Oak Fall Joseph Redmond, Sobrato, 1:21
112 Christopher Halcon, North Salinas Fall Joe Pollard, Live Oak, :56
119 Double BYE
125 Jason Agpaoa, North Salinas Dec Mario Alvarez, Palma, 11-6
130 Tim Henderson, Sobrato Dflt Matt Leach, Palma
135 Francisco Nunez, North Salinas Advanced through BYE
140 Buck Tanner, Live Oak Fall Seth Short, Palma, 3:19
145 Larry Dominquez, Live Oak Dflt Ryan Bradford, Salinas
152 Brett Jones, Live Oak Fall Chris Chavez, North Salinas, 3:55
160 Mitch Haaser, Live Oak Fall John Velasquez, Palma, 2:09
171 Double BYE
189 Cesar Rodriguez, North Salinas Advanced through BYE
215 Double BYE
275 Kevin Mueller, San Benito Fall Mark Ogden, Salinas, 3:25
