Ten reach semifinals
Divisional Wrestling:
The first in Strathmore High School history to qualify for the CIF State Championship tournament in 2016, senior Seth Garcia was back on the mat as the Spartans’ star wrestler in the CIF Central Section Sierra-sequoia Championship meet hosted by Sierra Pacific High School in Hanford Friday.
In the first day of the meet, Garcia (145 pounds) was the only local wrestler — from Strathmore, Granite Hills and Lindsay — to reach today’s semifinal match of the championship bracket. To get there, Garcia pinned Mcfarland’s Alex Patino in the first round and then took down Coalinga’s Caleb Bedrosion in a 6-3 decision.
“Oh my God he’s working his butt off,” SHS head coach Anthony Esquivel said with a smile. “He’s performed really well, I’m proud of him.”
Esquivel added, “We’re shooting for the top spot, we’re trying to get No. 1. We’re hoping that everything goes well, as planned, and we keep fighting and fighting and hopefully we win.”
Along with being the first-ever Spartan to make it to state when he was a sophomore, Garcia is the first Strathmore wrestler to win the East Sequoia League championship and make it to divisionals twice as well. But Garcia, who remains humble and simply thanks God for all his achievements, is just focused on finishing this season strong.
“I’ve been really blessed,” he said. “I didn’t get to wrestle last year due to some serious injuries that put me out, and football [this year]. We won state so that put out my entire preseason so I came into the season with like a week of practice before our first tournament…i just put in the hard work. Like I’ve said I’ve been very blessed. I thank God for all my accomplishments.”
Only the top five wrestlers in each weight class advance to the CIF Central Section Masters Championship on Feb. 24 and 25 at North High School in Bakersfield. The other two local wrestlers left standing after Friday’s final rounds were Lindsay’s Matthew Morales (106) and Granite Hills’ Shane Christie (152).
The two fell to the consolation bracket after losing their first matches by pin for Morales and a technical fall for Christie, but are still in the hunt for a third-place finish. In the consolation bracket, Morales pinned his first opponent and then won his next match by a 10-4 decision. Christie received a bye in the first round and then pinned his opponent to qualify for the second day. YOSEMITE VALLEY Nine wrestlers — six from Monache and
three from Porterville High School — advanced to the second day of the CIF Central Section Yosemite Valley Championship meet at Lemoore High School Friday.
For Monache, No. 3 Jared Callison (128 pounds), No. 1 Beau Bradley (154) and No. 1 Mark Cardwell (172) still have a chance to take home the championship title after winning their first three matches and reaching today’s semifinals.
Bradley cruised to the semifinal match with three straight pins in 52 seconds, 2:37 and 1:33, respectively.
Cardwell dominated
his first two matches, winning by decisions of 21-5 and 15-0, before pinning his quarterfinal opponent No. 8 Jordan Annis in 3:08.
Callison won by a decision of 15-0, then a pin in 1:35 and finally by a decision of 9-7 to reach the semifinals.
Monache’s No. 7 Jose Flores (134) and No. 9 Jorge Garcia (197) each won the first two matches before being sent to the consolation bracket before the championship’s quarterfinal round. Flores won his first two matches by pins of 29 seconds and then 1:48. Garcia won his first match by pin in 2:22 then upset No. 8
Bear Nunley of Tulare Union in a 2-1 decision.
The final Marauder to make it to the second round was Landen Cabeje (108). Cabeje won his first match by a forfeit, but was pinned in 3:13 by No. 1 Ramiro Castillo of Central. In consolation, Cabeje pinned his opponent in 5:46 and then won his next match by injury default.
Ranked No. 4 in the 184-pound class, Porterville’s Tyler Avila also qualified for the semifinal round after pinning his opponents in 2:49 and 3:16, then defeating No. 5 Trent Lindsey of Clovis North in a 5-2 decision.
Still competing in the consolation bracket for the Panthers is No. 10 Andrew Caballero and No. 6 Joey Sandoval. In the championship bracket Sandoval defeated his opponents in a 6-4 overtime decision and a 2:41 pin before losing his quarterfinal match by pin. After pinning his first opponent in 3:27, Caballero was bounced to the consolation bracket where he pinned his next two opponents in 3:40 and 59 seconds.
Full results for the Yosemite Valley meet can be found at forum. Thecaliforniawrestler.com in the CIF Tournaments and Info tab.