Mora abruptly disqualified from CCS Wrestling Championships;
‘Balers senior an unfortunate victim in Olejnik’s rules dispute
with officials
Heading into Saturday’s conclusion to the Central Coast Section Wrestling Championships, San Benito’s Chris Mora had high hopes of a dream ending to his senior season. Instead, he fell victim to a living nightmare.
A helpless bystander to a rules dispute between Haybalers head coach Matt Olejnik and CCS officials, Mora forfeited his quarterfinal match against Oak Grove’s Sergio Hernandez and then was deemed ineligible to enter the consolation bracket. When the whirlwind of events came to a halt, Mora saw his high school career end as he was abruptly disqualified from the tournament.
“I was just dumbfounded,” said Mora, who entered Saturday’s quarterfinals expecting to place at the meet and compete for a spot at this weekend’s CIF State Championships.
After cruising through Friday with an opening-round bye and then a pin of Pacific Grove’s Stephen Mayer, Mora looked poised to give San Benito teammate Ryan Dunn company on the CCS podium. But then the unthinkable happened: Mora’s coach took him out of the competition.
Olejnik and CCS officials had been embroiled in a dispute concerning the eligibility of Mora’s opponent, Oak Grove’s Hernandez, for the past two months. The San Benito coach took issue with Hernandez’ return from academic ineligibility in January, challenging that the senior and Oak Grove had not followed CCS by-laws with regard to the timing of weigh-ins after being reinstated. Olejnik said he brought his protest to the attention of CCS officials on multiple occasions, even protesting Hernandez’ eligibility to compete in tournaments such as the Mid-Cal Classic.
Especially in light of the fact that San Benito abided by CCS rules when Fernando Lucatero and Jesus Sagero were deemed academically ineligible early last week, thus crippling the ‘Balers’ team chances at CCS, Olejnik spoke of being adamant that the tournament director fairly enforce the by-laws to all parties.
“It seems like rules were bent for certain situations and not for other factions,” said San Benito’s coach, who again voiced his concerns to CCS officials on the eve of the Championships. “I felt it just demeans the tournament if rules or perceptions of rules were violated, and I didn’t want to contribute to that by wrestling.”
Without receiving what he deemed a satisfactory response to his inquiry, Olejnik was forced into a making a difficult decision: To either allow Mora to wrestle and thus drop his protest or to have Mora forfeit the match. Believing that a forfeit would send his 119-pounder into the consolation bracket and preserve Mora’s hopes of gaining a top-six finish, Olejnik reluctantly pulled his senior from the quarterfinal match at Overfelt High.
Olejnik and Mora were then stunned when the tournament director ruled that, because Mora was neither sick nor injured at the time of his forfeit, he was ineligible to enter the consolation bracket, thus eliminating the wrestler from the championships.
“It was totally my fault,” said Olejnik yesterday. “I should’ve known the rule. I blew it. I thought he would drop down to consolation. I thought [having him wrestle Hernandez] would cloud the decision. It was a total mess. Ultimately, it is my fault because I didn’t interpret the rule correctly.
“If I’d known he wouldn’t have been able to drop down [to the consolation bracket], he would’ve wrestled. The dispute or the protest would’ve ended right there.”
Mora, who entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed, spoke of what he was looking forward to entering the second day.
“Saturday, I was expecting to push myself,” said Mora, “to see what I could do against [Hernandez]. To see if I was up to my expectations going against him.”
In the aftermath of the devastating turn of events, Mora was the epitome of a class act.
“I’m just going to keep on training for freestyling and college,” said Mora, who competes with the Razorback Wrestling Club and hopes to wrestle for West Valley College or another area school next year. “I can’t go back and change things. I know my coach feels bad.”
Olejnik remained beside himself that he cost one of his wrestlers the opportunity to determine his own fate on the mat.
“I messed up and I cost him a possible trip to State and a chance to place at CCS,” said Olejnik. “I cost him dearly and I have to live with it. Hopefully, he won’t change his feelings for me or the program.
“We’ll never know what could’ve been. I have a lot of respect for Chris and the way he handled my mess-up; and I’ve just got to apologize.”
