The San Benito wrestling team brought 13 wrestlers to Saturday’s
Tri-County Athletic League Championships in Gilroy, and will
advance all 13 wrestlers to next week’s section tournament.
GILROY
And to think, Javier Bustillos was busy having his appendix removed just a month ago.
The San Benito senior had been kept from the lineup for two weeks following his morning surgery on Jan. 18, and although he returned to the wrestling room on Feb. 1, only to deliver a victory in the heavyweight class against Salinas one day later, Bustillos has yet to hit the weight room since his surgery.
Wrestling more on technique than strength, however, he’s now 3-1 post-op as well as a Tri-County Athletic League champion.
And to think, he was busy having his appendix removed just a month ago.
“He stuck with it and he’s by far the biggest surprise of the year,” San Benito head coach Brian DeCarli said of Bustillos, who has technically had longer stretches of wrestling downtime than his two weeks since having surgery.
In fact, Bustillos took two years off from the mat after competing for the wrestling team his freshmen season.
“Now, he’ll be a top four- or five-seed at the sectional tournament,” DeCarli added.
Bustillos managed to put a positive spin on San Benito’s late performance at the TCAL Championships in Gilroy last weekend. Although each of the 13 wrestlers who competed on Saturday also qualified to the upcoming Central Coast Section Wrestling Championships, and although the Balers finished runner-up to Gilroy (255 points) with 187 points, seven of the 13 wrestlers dropped their final match in the medal round, five of whom were in the finals.
Bustillos and 191-pound wrestler Miguel Martin del Campo were the lone TCAL champions for San Benito, a year after the program had four champions at the TCAL tournament.
“Too many seconds,” DeCarli said. “In the medal round, we lost more matches than we won. Regardless of the place, that leaves a bad taste when you leave some matches out there.”
Perhaps making matters a bit worse, San Benito was up against Gilroy in almost every final on the lineup.
Robb Rodriguez finished runner-up to Victor Olmos by a 3-0 decision at 121 pounds; Raul Suarez, filling in for an injured Jay Garcia, advanced to the 127-pound final before losing to Nikko Villarreal by fall (3:21); Zack Rodriguez lost to the third-ranked wrestler in the state at 137 pounds, Blake Kastl, by fall (1:48); and Mikey Soto suffered an injury to his thumb before being upset by Aaron Gonzalez by a 6-3 decision at 142 pounds.
At 173s, Joey Garcia lost his final to Alisal’s Juan Ochoa by fall (3:47) as well.
“It’s not like the glass is half empty. We had seven kids in the finals,” DeCarli said. “We just expect a lot out of the kids and the kids expect a lot out of themselves. We brought 13 and we’ll send all 13 to CCS.
“But every match you lose out there, you’re gonna be dropping in the (CCS) seedings.”
The CCS Championships are scheduled for this Friday and Saturday at Independence High School in San Jose. Often with two weeks off in between TCALs and CCS, though, the Balers will need to remain on weight this week, but also heal up any injuries suffered on Saturday in Gilroy.
For instance, although he earned the top seed at 142s, Soto re-injured his right thumb during his final match against Gilroy’s Aaron Gonzalez when he landed on it during an early takedown.
The Gilroy grappler outscored Soto by a 6-1 margin for the remainder of the bout, however.
“The trainer said it was sprained, but he also said it might have a small chip,” said Soto, who had his wrist and thumb wrapped midway through the second period, moments after he jammed it into Gonzalez’s knee. “It’s kind of numb. I taped it up, but I couldn’t even move my hand.”
Soto still plans on testing his hand at CCS this weekend, where the top three in each weight class advance to state.
“I’m still gonna go out there and perform how I usually do,” said Soto, who was recently ranked No. 34 in the state at 140 pounds.
With the top five from TCALs advancing to CCS, though, San Benito had four wrestlers in fifth- and sixth-place consolation bouts, where only the winner was able to extend their season another tournament.
The Balers did manage to win each weight class, too, with Greg Landry taking fifth at 145s with a bye, Jonathan Arballo doing the same at 154s via forfeit, and both Tony Gatto at 105s and Dominic Cortes at 132s winning their respective matches.
Gatto pinned Salinas’ Logan Graham in 1:47, while Cortes delivered an 11-2 major decision over Salinas’ Andres Torres.
“That match woke me up. I was ready,” said Cortes, who felt he had a slow start to open TCALs, perhaps as a result of wrestling down at 132s after having competed at 137s all season.
“There were some nerves going in. I didn’t think I did my best — so-so. I could have done better,” he said. “I thought I was gonna be a little slow. But I also saw myself in the finals. That’s what I expected.”
Nevertheless, Cortes will compete for the first time at CCS, as will Chris Baldwin (114) and Nick Mendizabal (162), each of whom finished fourth for the Balers on Saturday.
Also making his first appearance at CCS will be Bustillos, who defeated Gilroy’s Izack Lugo by fall (3:08) and North Salinas’ Gerald Omictin by fall (3:23) to claim the TCAL title.
Bustillos was even trailing Omictin by a 5-2 margin before turning the tables on his Viking opponent for a pin.
“I had it in my mind that I was going to win because I’d beaten him twice,” Bustillos said. “But it was a shock when he took me down.”
It, too, was a shock, he added, when he emerged with first place and the TCAL championship at 217 pounds.
Tri-County Athletic League Championships
Team
1, Gilroy, 255; 2, San Benito, 187; 3, Alisal, 172.5; 4, Palma, 171; 5, Salinas, 113; 6, North Salinas, 95.5; 7, Everett Alvarez, 30.
Individual
105 — Tony Gatto, 2-2, 5th; 112 — Chris Baldwin, 2-2, 4th; 121 — Robb Rodriguez, 2-1, 2nd; 127 — Raul Suarez, 1-1, 2nd; 132 — Dominic Cortes, 1-2, 5th; 137 — Zack Rodriguez, 1-1, 2nd; 142 — Mikey Soto, 1-1, 2nd; 147 — Greg Landry, 0-2, 5th; 154 — Jonathan Arballo, 1-2, 5th; 162 — Nick Mendizabal, 1-2, 4th; 173 — Joey Garcia, 1-1, 2nd; 191 — Miguel Martin del Campo, 2-0, 1st; 217 — Javier Bustillos, 2-0, 1st.
Medal Rounds
Championship
105 Leif Dominquez, Gilroy M-Dec Johnny Alonzo, Alisal, 13-1
114 Paul Fox, Gilroy Fall Martin Martinez, Palma, 1:40
121 Victor Olmos, Gilroy Dec Robb Rodriguez, San Benito, 3-0
127 Nikko Villarreal, Gilroy Fall Raul Suarez, San Benito, 3:21
132 Willie Fox, Gilroy M-Dec Luis Cessa, Alisal, 12-2
137 Blake Kastl, Gilroy Fall Zack Rodriguez, San Benito, 1:48
142 Aaron Gonzales, Gilroy Dec Mikey Soto, San Benito, 6-3
147 Jovan Villalobos, Alisal M-Dec Edy Antonio, North Salinas, 13-4
154 Ryan Sarmiento, Palma M-Dec Dylan Forzani, Salinas, 11-2
162 Felix Gonzalez, Gilroy Fall Jacob France, Everett Alvarez, 1:54
173 Juan Ochoa, Alisal Fall Joey Garcia, San Benito, 3:47
191 Miguel Martin del Campo, San Benito Fall Alex Briano, Salinas, 5:30
217 Javier Bustillos, San Benito Fall Gerald Omictin, North Salinas, 3:23
287 Brandon Pulealii, Palma Fall Joe Jewell, Salinas, 3:09
3rd Place
105 Hunter Rehbien, Palma Dec Gabriel Espino, North Salinas, 2-0
114 Michael Espino, North Salinas Fall Chris Baldwin, San Benito, 2:36
121 Alberto Farias, Salinas Fall Chris Moreno, Alisal, 2:37
127 Sam Eastman, Palma Dec Jonathan Rivera, Alisal, 9-5
132 Christian Palacios, Palma Dec Lawrance Combs, North Salinas, 2-0
137 Arturo Morado, Alisal Dec Reed Worthy, Palma, 7-0
142 Oscar Mendez, Alisal Dec Alfred Noza, North Salinas, 1-0
147 Lupe Jimenez, Gilroy Fall Bart Bonfantini, Palma, 1:14
154 Eddie Meza, Alisal Fall Julian Carbijal, Gilroy, 2:00
162 Zach Hughes, Salinas Fall Nick Mendizabal, San Benito, 4:00
173 Gavin Barnett, Everett Alvarez Fall Tim Jimenez, Palma, 1:44
191 Andrew Toste, Gilroy Dec Josaiah Pulealii, Palma, 8-2
217 Izack Lugo, Gilroy Fall Thomas Ramirez, Alisal, 4:35
287 Jose Lara, Gilroy Fall Xavier Mabalot, Alisal, 1:49
5th Place
105 Tony Gatto, San Benito Fall Logan Graham, Salinas, 1:47
114 Daniel Valdez, Alisal Fall Victor Sanchez, Salinas, 1:59
121 Josh Gonzales, Palma Fall Matt Skinner, Everett Alvarez, :33
127 Eduardo Tinoco, Salinas Fall Dago Pina, North Salinas, 3:14
132 Dominic Cortes, San Benito M-Dec Andrie Torres, Salinas, 11-2
137 Gaberiel Hernadez, Salinas Advanced through BYE
142 Robert Caldwell, Palma M-Dec Daniel Proa, Salinas, 9-0
147 Greg Landry, San Benito Advanced through BYE
154 Jonathan Arballo, San Benito Frft Isaac Ruiz, North Salinas
162 Aaron Herrera, Alisal Dec Zack Zender, Palma, 3-0
173 Double BYE
191 Antonio Berber, Alisal Dec Nico Alvarez, North Salinas, 7-4
217 Jeff Taluban, Palma Fall David Calderon, Salinas, 2:06
287 Double BYE
