Gavilan alum shoots a 2-over 74 at Pebble Beach on Saturday;
falls short of cut for finale at AT
&
amp;T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am
The San Benito wrestling team went into the Tri-County Athletic League Championships on Saturday hoping to qualify 14 Haybalers–one at each weight class–for the upcoming Central Coast Section meet.
The team nearly succeeded in that lofty goal. 13 ‘Balers are on their way to CCS after finishing in at least the top four at the league tournament in Gilroy.
San Benito earned a strong second place, defeating all comers with the exception of powerhouse Gilroy–a team hoping to place at the CIF State meet.
Leading the way for San Benito, as has been the case all season, were Ryan Dunn and Chris Mora. The seniors were the Haybalers’ two TCAL champions, as Dunn won the 215-pound title and Mora the 119.
Dunn, in particular, has enjoyed a masterful final campaign. The ‘Balers’ leader has amassed a record of 32-0 on the year and, even more impressively, has yet to be taken down.
“He’s wrestled incredibly,” said San Benito head coach Matt Olejnik. “He’ll be favored probably at his weight class [at CCS]. Ryan himself expects to win the section title, move on to the State meet and be a State place winner.”
Mora, days after falling despite a game effort in the team’s dual meet at Gilroy when asked to move up to the 125-pound class, returned to his natural 119-pound slot and rolled over the competition.
After watching Mora dominate the league competition right through the final match, Olejnik was impressed.
“He was ready to go,” said the ‘Balers’ coach of Mora. “He’s ready to peak at the right time.”
After narrowly missing placing for the State meet as one of the section’s top-six wrestlers at his weight class, Mora has a legitimate chance of earning a top-four honors at CCS.
“It’s definitely within his capability if he wrestles like he has down the stretch,” said Olejnik.
In all, San Benito saw six of its wrestlers advance to the TCAL Championships’ final round. Armando Lerma (103-pound), Luis Barocio (130), Fernando Lucatero (140), Nilo Velasquez (145) and Josh Sanchez (171) each earned runner-up honors in league.
Olejnik was pleased to see Barocio defeat the Palma counterpart who had defeated him in the team’s earlier TCAL dual meet. After Barocio fell to Gilroy’s Chris Krough in the finals, Olejnik said he hopes to see more of the same from his 130-pounder.
“If he puts forth that kind of effort at sections, I think he has an outside chance of getting a place,” said the San Benito coach of Barocio.
Despite giving up a pin to Gilroy’s Armando Gonzalez, the top-ranked 140-pounder in the section, Lucatero earned the respect of the Mustangs’ coaching staff.
“I give a lot of credit to [Lucatero],” said Gilroy assistant coach Greg Varela. “He kept shooting, kept coming after little Mondo and that’s what makes it exciting. That kid kept it close. He tried to win. I respect that of him a lot because a lot of kids run from Mondo.
In all, the Mustangs earned nine individual championships.
While Gilroy overwhelmed the varsity competition, San Benito enjoyed similar success in the JV Championships. The Haybalers put 10 wrestlers in the finals and emerged with a dominant eight champions in the 14 weight classes.
“We were as dominant in JV as Gilroy was in varsity,” said Olejnik.
With the CCS meet just over a week away, San Benito has begun its final preparations with running exercises early this week and plans to return to the mat mid-week to resume full practices.
While Gilroy and Fremont have risen head and shoulders above the competition this season, followed by a strong Los Gatos program, the Haybalers hope to wrestle their way above the best of the rest.
“Our thought process is we’re trying to get into the top four,” said Olejnik, who identified Half Moon Bay and Bellarmine as two of San Benito’s chief competitors to do just that. “We need 6-7 guys to place in the top six. If we get some good first-round matches and get some pins, we can wrack up some points.”
