Valley contingent shines at D-Day on the Midway
SAN DIEGO — Location, location, location: That’s the famous watchword in realty. Generally speaking, location accounts for the bulk of a given property’s value.
In sports the “where” generally takes a back seat to the “what,” and especially the “who,” but a good venue still has the potential to take an already buzzy event and kick it into the stratosphere — think the World Series at Fenway or football at the Rose Bowl.
Last weekend a group local grapplers got the chance to compete in a national wrestling tournament whose finals were held in a pretty nifty spot: The U.S.S. Midway in San Diego harbor.
The tournament — called “D-Day on the Midway” despite taking place two months after its eponymous battles — featured more than 1,000 wrestlers (ages 6 to 18) from across 24 states, competing in (boys and girls) individual freestyle (i.e. Olympic style), folkstyle (i.e. high school style) and team dual divisions subdivided by age and weight class.
The Valley’s contingent numbered north of 20. The largest part was made up of Brawley Gladiators, but the Imperial Junior Wrestling Club fielded a slate as well.
For such a small part of a larger whole this tenacious group performed remarkably well, furnishing 18 individual placers (wrestlers who finished in the top six of their respective divisions) from all over the age spectrum.
Of those 18, three (Savannah Gomez, Xamian Muñoz-Salazar and Noah Larios) graded out golden, while another four (Julian Valdovinos, Eli Sandoval, Julyssa Arce and Emma Cardenas) made it onto the Midway (non-finals were held on Broadway Pier) for their divisional final before falling short.
The already highly decorated Gomez, a five-time California State Wrestling Champ, shone brightest.
Representing the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club (a San Marino-based organization dedicated to Olympic prep) the incoming Brawley Union freshman doubled-booked herself in the 130- and 136-pound high school folkstyle divisions … and won them both, pinning each and every one of her opponents in under (usually way under) 2:20.
The Gladiators’ Muñoz-Salazar, a CalUSA state champ himself, also competed in two divisions — the 12U boys 62-pound folkstyle and 66-pound freestyle.
In the freestyle portion, which came on Thursday (the folkstyle main event spread out over Friday and Saturday), Muñoz-Salazar didn’t have his best day. Despite being seeded at the top of his bracket he was outpointed 10-0 in his first match by Nicholas Sorrow of Simmons Academy and wound up settling for fourth.
More at home in Friday and Saturday’s folkstyle competition, he pinned his preliminary opponents with apparent ease before outpointing Chrystan Owens of Poway Elite 9-3 in the championship round.
Imperial’s Larios, meanwhile, went allout, hopping into three brackets — one freestyle (at 120 pounds) and two folkstyle (113 and heavyweight). His crowning glory came in the 113 pound folkstyle bracket. He finished second as a heavyweight (he may have had a shot at first but suffered an ankle injury in warmups) and third in freestyle.
Muñoz-Salazar and Larios also picked up some impressive hardware as members of the Fresno-based Cali Red Collective, which managed to place first in the elementary-aged boys team duals, besting teams from Arizona, Utah and a crew of USA Elite all-stars. Joining them on Cali Red were Sandoval, Daryn Leon, Benjamin Limentang and Carlos Zaragoza.
Also competing on a placing team were Julissa Arce, Arianna Moises, Delarie Juarez and Lauren Zaragoza. The girls were members of the West Coast Luchadoras which finished third in the middle-school girls’ duals.
A complete list of local placers is included below (all folkstyle unless otherwise noted):
Boys 6U – 43 pounds
Julian Valdovinos (Brawley Gladiators) 6th Boys 6U – 52 pounds Lucas Cardenas (Brawley Gladiators) 6th Boys 6U – 61 pounds Ares Pinedo (Brawley Gladiators) 3rd Boys 8U – 50 pounds Eli Sandoval (Brawley Gladiators) 2nd Boys 8U – 58 pounds Masen Pinedo (Brawley Gladiators) 4th Girls K-2nd – 78 pounds Emma Cardenas (Brawley Gladiators) 2nd Boys Aydann 10U Correa – 57 pounds (Imperial Jr. Wrestling) 4th Boys 10U – 61 pounds Benjamin Limentang (Brawley Gladiators) 6th Boys 10U – 69 pounds freestyle Daryn Leon (Brawley Gladiators) 3rd Boys 10U – 69 pounds Daryn Leon (Brawley Gladiators) 4th Boys 10U – 85 pounds Carlos Zaragoza (Brawley Gladiators) 4th Boys 10U – 113 pounds
Noah Larios (Imperial Jr. Wrestling) 1st
Boys 10U – 120 pounds freestyle 2nd Noah Larios (Imperial Jr. Wrestling) Boys 10U – Heavyweight Noah Larios (Imperial Jr. Wrestling) 3rd Girls grades 3-5 – 66 pounds freestyle Julyssa Arce (Brawley Gladiators) 5th Girls grades 3-5 – 71 pounds Julyssa Arce (Brawley Gladiators) 3rd Boys 12U – 62 pounds Xamian Muñoz-Salazar (Brawley Gladiators) 1st Boys 12U – 66 pounds freestyle Xamian Muñoz-Salazar (Brawley Gladiators) 4th Boys 12U – 78 pounds Evan Velez (Brawley Gladiators) 4th Boys 12U – 122 pounds freestyle Isaiah Aguirre-Campbell (Imperial Jr. Wrestling) 5th Boys 12U – 122 pounds Isaiah Aguirre-Campbell (Imperial Jr. Wrestling) 6th Girls grades 6-8 – 84 pounds Lauren Zaragoza (Brawley Gladiators) 3rd Girls grades 9-12 – 130 pounds Savannah Gomez (Titan Mercury) 1st Girls grades 9-12 – 136 pounds Savannah Gomez (Titan Mercury) 1st