San Benito continues to find success on the wrestling mat this
season.
Saratoga – San Benito continues to find success on the wrestling mat this season.
The Haybalers, who figure to be the only team in the Tri-County Athletic League with a shot at challenging powerhouse Gilroy, won their second straight tournament by taking first place as a team Saturday at the Jim Root Wrestling Classic held at West Valley College.
San Benito also took first Jan. 5-6 at the Silicon Valley Challenge Cup, a dual meet tournament.
While Gilroy was competing and taking 11th place in the Five-Counties Invitational in Fountain Valley – considered the top tournament in the state – Olejnik was happy with this performance and likes the way his team is wrestling against its competition.
“We wrestled really well,” coach Matt Olejnik said. “The quality of tournaments that Gilroy is in are much higher, but any time you score 200 points in a tournament, that’s a pretty dominating effort.”
San Benito won the title with 204 points. Greenfield was the next highest finisher at 140.
Three ‘Balers took home individual championships and they also had a second, third and fourth place finisher and two consolation champions.
Top seed Fernando Lucatero defended his Jim Root championship at 160 pounds. Lucatero beat Cupertino’s Paul Kim, the third-ranked wrestler in the section, 3-1 in the finals.
“He pretty much dominated the match,” Olejnik said.
Freshman Junior Davila beat two higher ranked wrestlers on his way to winning the 112-pound title.
He recorded a reversal with about 20 seconds left to beat Cupertino’s Shimeer Erfanian 7-6 in the semifinals. In the finals, he knocked off Silver Creek’s Tina Linhsamout 6-4 to win the title.
Josh Ramirez rounded out the ‘Balers champions with a 152-pound title. The fourth seed pinned the top seed in the semifinals and earned a technical foul victory in the finals.
Ryan Cowell also advanced to the finals, but suffered an overtime loss at 215 pounds to finish in second.
He had a 1-0 lead entering the third quarter but was docked a point for stalling to tie the match and he was taken down in overtime.
Enrique Lucatero had a solid tournament at 145 pounds. After losing to Andrew Hill’s Jonathan Garcia in the semifinals, he rebounded to take third place.
Heavyweight Buddy Barraza rounded out the top finishers for San Benito with a fourth-place effort.
Jesus Segura (130) and Manny Tovar (189) both claimed consolation championships and Gio Coelho (125) and Stephen Borba (135) advanced to the consolation finals before falling.
The ‘Balers are still awaiting the return of several wrestlers and Olejnik expects to have back in time for this weekend’s tournament at Arcadia .
“This next tournament I think we’ll be at full strength,” he said.
