San Benito Senior Captures 215-Pound Title at Mid-Cal
Classic
Gilroy – San Benito wrestler Ryan Dunn should feel pretty good about his chances of winning a Central Coast Section title.
The senior, ranked No. 2 in the CCS at 215 pounds, beat CCS third-ranked wrestler Jacob Maxson of Redwood 6-1 Saturday at the Mid-Cal wrestling championships to win the 215-pound title.
Smack-dab under the spotlight in the middle of a packed Gilroy High gym Saturday, Dunn took an early 2-0 when he caught one of Maxson’s legs, lifted him up in the air and brought him down to the mat with a resounding takedown. Dunn stayed on top for the rest of the period.
“After that, I felt good. I kind of broke him,” Dunn said. “Then I just wrestled pretty good on top and just kept wrestling hard.”
Dunn, who beat Los Banos’ Chris Ramirez 4-0 earlier in the day to get to the title match, put himself up 4-0 with another takedown with 17 seconds left in the second round. Maxson earned his only point of the match by escaping with seconds left. In the final period, Dunn created more breathing room for himself with another takedown.
“I’m glad to win it and get my name out there in the state rankings ,” said Dunn, who finished fourth at last year’s Mid-Cals.
Also placing for the ‘Balers were Luis Barocio, who took sixth at 130 pounds, and Fernando Lucatero, who bested his No. 7 seed in the 140-pound weight class with a fourth-place finish.
Lucatero (5-2) lost in the last five seconds of the third-place match to Joey Wilson of Half Moon Bay, the same wrestler who had defeated him earlier in the tournament by a 7-1 decision.
Barocio earned a 7-5 decision over Mount Pleasant’s Tyler Mendez but then lost to Peter Hoang of Silver Creek by technical fall to finish 6-3 for the tournament.
San Benito wrestling coach Matt Olejnik was happy to see the two underclassmen bounce back after a rough day Friday.
“The impressive thing is that both are young guys,” Olejnik said. “They battled through and it shows they’re not going to give up come section time.”
Host Gilroy dominated the tournament, taking first in the tournament for the first time since 1991 with 307 points. The Mustangs also crowned five individual winners and had two of the tournament’s three most outstanding wrestlers in 135-pounder Adin Dueñas (middle weights) and 171-pounder Hunter Collins (upper weights).
The ‘Balers are in action Wednesday against North Salinas.
Ana Patejdl cover sports for South Valley Newspapers. She can be reached at [email protected].
