Lodi’s Medeiros advances to second day of action

Three was the magic number for Lodi High wrestler Justin Medeiros on Friday.

That’s how many wins that the senior Flame produced in the 182-pound class at the 45th annual California Interscholastic Federation Wrestling State Championships at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield. Medeiros ended the day with a 3-1 record. In order to earn a medal, Medeiros must win his first two matches in the consolation rounds of the double-elimination tournament this morning.

Faced with elimination in his fourth match on Friday evening, Medeiros posted a 6-3 decision over Clovis North’s Trent Lindsey, who led through most of the contest. Two escapes added enough points for the win for Medeiros.

“At the end, it looked like he was going to win,” said Lodi coach Keith Mettler of Lindsey. “But Justin didn’t go down.”

Medeiros was bumped into the consolation after Bakersfield’s Sam Loera posted a 3-1 decision win. Prior to that match, Medeiros recorded a 31 win over Paradise’s Marshall Neumann, and the same score in his first match over Etiwanda’s Nathan Smith to start the tourney.

Tokay’s Seth Chaney (113), a jun-

ior, saw his season come to an end with an 0-2 mark in the tourney. His first match was to Madera’s Mario Moreno, who pinned him in the first round.

“Everyone is good at the state tournament,” said Tokay coach Ed Carlos. “The kid from Madera is solid. I think we got caught up in the moment, and it got to us a little bit.”

Now in the consolation round, Chaney faced an elimination match against J.W. North’s Salvador Vargas, who posted a 5-1 win over Chaney.

“He wrestled a better match,” said Carlos of Chaney. “He fought and proved he belonged at the tourney.”

Now the off-season begins for Chaney, who Carlos said plans to hit the weight room to bulk up and compete in freestyle wrestling in the spring and summer months to prepare for his senior year.

“We had a good talk about what we’ve got to accomplish next season,” Carlos said. “We’re real happy with what he did at the end of the season. He wants to grow, lift hard and work hard.”

Chaney is one of a handful of Tiger grapplers expected to return next winter. Carlos loses only four matmen to graduation this spring.

“We feel pretty good about the program,” said Carlos, whose Tigers won the TriCity Athletic League dual team title last month. “The future looks bright.”