The Mustangs cruised to a record-setting trouncing of the rest
of the Central Coast Section
If the Gilroy High wrestling team continues at the pace its
going, people won’t be able to see the wall in the school’s
gymnasium because it will be blanketed by Central Coast Section
Championship banners.
The Mustangs cruised to a record-setting trouncing of the rest of the Central Coast Section
If the Gilroy High wrestling team continues at the pace its going, people won’t be able to see the wall in the school’s gymnasium because it will be blanketed by Central Coast Section Championship banners.
Last weekend at Overfelt High in San Jose the Mustangs cruised to their fourth CCS title in a row by trouncing the competition and setting a new section record in the process for total team points in the tournament
Gilroy’s total of 274.50 bested Sunnyvale’s Fremont High by more than 100 points and broke a decade-long record of 269.5 set by San Jose’s Independence High in 1996.
“I guess we’ll have to set aside the money for banners in the budget every year,” said Gilroy Athletic Director Jack Daley with a chuckle. “I think they are about $200 a piece.”
Only one other school in the history of CCS has strung together four section titles in the row.
“People think that this happened over night but it took a long time to build this program,” said Gilroy coach Armando Gonzalez Sr. in an earlier interview. “People think we’ve came out of no where, but I’ve been putting this program together for a long time. Most of these kids have wrestled for me since they were 5-years old.”
In addition to the team feat, Gilroy’s 140-pound wrestler, Armando Gonzalez Jr., became only the third wrestler in the history of the section championship to win an individual title each of his high school years.
“It’s a tribute to all of their hard work. The kids did a great job and Armand (Sr.) does a great job coaching them. He pushes them hard but he loves them,” Daley said. “He works with them. The kids love him. It’s like a big family – really neat.”
And what’s even more amazing is that Gilroy is the odds-on favorites to five-peat in the sport next year.
“Of the nine that we had place in the tournament, almost all of them are coming back,” said Daley.
Today those nine wrestlers along with San Benito High’s Ryan Dunn and Sobrato High’s Genaro Redmond and Moses Guillardo will be the only local wrestlers competing in the state tournament at Bakersfield’s Robo Arena.
In addition to Gonzalez’ personal four-peat in the section tournament, Gilroy’s Nicolo Naranjo, Adin Duenas, Hunter Collins and Andre Barragan each captured individual section titles as well, which helped the Mustangs run away with the title.
Naranjo won the 112-pound title, Duenas captured the title in the 135-pound class, Collins won the 171 division and Barragan won the 189-pound title.
Although they didn’t win section titles several Gilroy wrestlers also had strong showings in the tournament. Gilroy’s Martin Gonzalez, Armando’s younger brother, finished second in the 103-pound division; Rudy Maldonado finished third in the 125-pound division; Chris Krough took third at 130 pounds and Daniel Gamez took third in the 215-pound division, which was captured by Dunn.
“He (Ryan Dunn) really wrestled well,” said San Benito High coach Matt Olejnik. “He beat the kid who was in the finals the last two years.”
That kid was Scott’s Valleys Dustin Black, who Dunn beat 6-4 to take the title and become the only Baler to earn a trip to the state meet.
Dunn enters today’s competition as the fifth-ranked wrestler in the state in his weight class.
A year ago, Dunn earned a trip to the state finals and wound up going 2-2 in the tournament.
“I tell him the main thing is to have fun,” said Olejnik of his 6-foot-3, 215-pound wrestler. “The jitters should be gone because he was there last year. I could see him making it to the finals.”
Although Olejnik’s team finished 14th in the tournament and only qualified one wrestler to the state meet, he was pleased with his team’s overall effort.
“We forfeited the 119-pound match and lost our 125 and 140-pounder to grades, and we were still not that many points from sixth place,” said the Balers coach. “We have 70 kids in our program and we should come back strong next year. Gilroy will be stacked again but Fremont High is losing every kid but their 103-pounder.”
The only other local wrestler to win a CCS title was Sobrato’s 275-pound wrestler Genaro Redmond. Redmond’s win in the heavyweight match helped propel the Bulldogs team to a surprising 16th place finish in the section tournament. Guillardo also earned a trip to today’s prestigious state meet by finishing fourth in the section tournament in the 125-pound division.
