The San Benito High wrestling squad returns to action tonight
against Bellarmine just a couple of days after a successful showing
at the Kenny Fehlman Tournament, which was hosted by the Haybalers
at San Benito High this past weekend.
The San Benito High wrestling squad returns to action tonight against Bellarmine just a couple of days after a successful showing at the Kenny Fehlman Tournament, which was hosted by the Haybalers at San Benito High this past weekend.
The Balers finished fifth in the tournament out of 11 teams, behind Fremont in fourth, Atascadero in third, Newark Memorial in second and Centennial in first.
San Benito got strong performances from its newest members, football players who joined the team following the Haybalers run to the Central Coast Section title game. Ryan Dunn, Chuck Thompson and Alex Diaz have only been practicing with the wrestling team for five days but went a combined 7-3 in the tournament.
Thompson went 3-1 over the weekend, his only loss coming in a one-point defeat. His wins were highlighted by a 45-second pin. Diaz won two and lost one while Dunn won three and lost one.
“Conditioning was a factor in all of their losses,” said Balers head coach Matt Olejnik. “But in the next couple of weeks, all of that will change as these guys get more into wrestling shape.”
Senior Kyle Horn, wrestling at 189 pounds, went undefeated in the tournament and earned All-Tournament honors. Horn spent last summer working on his wrestling by attending various camps and looks to be one of the squad’s bright spots for the 2004-05 campaign.
Chris Mora wrestled at 125 pounds went 7-2 and was impressive in all of his matches as was Evan Rodriguez, who also went 7-2.
For the heavyweights, Jake Mahann and Ricardo Sanchez went a combined 7-2 as well.
And, despite their performance against some of the area’s best wrestling teams at the Kenny Fehlman Tournament the Haybalers still aren’t at full strength. Fred Carpenter, who transferred to San Benito from Washington, is still waiting for the proper paperwork to go through the system and make him eligible for competition. Martin Barocio is also waiting to return to the San Benito lineup after recovering from a knee injury.
Freshman Fernando Lucatero held his own in the always tough 130 pound division, going 3-3 against more experienced grapplers.
“I was pleasantly surprised. You never know what you have until you go out there and compete. Everyone looks good in our wrestling room but you’re going agains your own guys,” Olejnik said. “I was very pleased with the way we competed as a team, we wrestled hard. We have eight freshman or sophomores in our lineup but we know we’ll be able to compete with our lineup.”
