STATE CHAMPION
Frontier’s Estrada wins in 145-pound final; Golden Valley’s Roby is runner-up in girls 189
The road to repeating as a state champion had a few bumps along the way for Frontier junior Miguel Estrada.
After capturing the 145-pound state title last season, Estrada discovered he had an injury in his right shoulder, one that needed surgery and he didn’t return to action until January.
Then things took a bit of a dip when he lost for the first time in two years, falling to Poway’s Laird Root in a 4-3 decision. But retribution came at this year’s CIF State Championships when the No. 2-seeded Estrada and Root each advanced to the finals.
The two battled through six minutes of regulation, and another two in overtime and a pair of tiebreaker sessions before Estrada struck the deciding blow, scoring a takedown in the final seconds of the match to defeat Root 4-2, and earn his second straight state championship as the Mechanics Bank Arena crowd roared with approval.
Estrada is the first Kern County boys wrestler to win consecutive titles since Bakersfield High Navonte Demison went back-to-back in 2017. He is also just the second Titan to win a state title. Trent Tracy won the school’s first when he scored a victory in the 170pound final in 2018.
Estrada was the lone Kern County finalist for the boys, and he made the most of it.
Golden Valley’s Naomi Roby, the No. 3 seed, was the only area girls wrestler to make the finals, but her night ended in her 189 title match against No. 4 Saiheron Prediado-Meza of Huntington Beach-Marina.
Roby injured her right knee on a takedown by Preciado-Meza just 35 seconds into her match, and never fully recovered.
After spending a few minutes on the mat for an injury timeout, Roby was helped to her feet, and tried to fight through the pain.
Roby started on the bottom and used her athleticism to earn an escape to trim the lead to 2-1, but Preciado-Meza scored a takedown with just 19 seconds left and finished things off to pin by fall at 1:56.
The Bulldogs senior recovered from an upset loss in the Masters final last week to Salana Camacho of Visalia-Golden West, pinned her during the finals and had her sights set on a state title before the unfortunate injury.
The two wrestlers shared a moment of good sportsmanship after the match, with Preciado-Meza giving Roby a flower from her championship bouquet, and the two finished off a long hug with a handshake in the staging area following the match.
Bakersfield High’s boys team had a strong tournament as a team, finishing with six on the podium, but failed to send a wrestler to the final despite having four semifinalists.
Tye Monteiro, the topseed at 182, lost by fall to No. 4 Sonny Kling of Moreno Valley-Canyon Springs in the semifinals. The senior, who was the state runner-up at the weight last year, recovered to place third.
It was the third trip to the podium for Monteiro, who defeated No. 3 Thomas Sandoval of Vacaville in just 31 seconds in the thirdplace match. Monteiro placed eighth as a freshman for Garces in 2020, becoming the first at the school to place at state.
He was one of four Drillers to finish third, joining Beau Priest (145), Michael Murillo (220) and Adam Stanley (285).
Murillo, the No. 2 seed, was third last season and had cruised into the semifinals. But Clovis-Buchanan’s Kannon Campbell scored a 5-2 decision to send the BHS junior to the consolation bracket.
Bakersfield’s Aiden Simmons (126) finished fourth, with teammate Jake Honey (160) sixth, improving upon his eight-place finish at 152 last year.
It was a big day for the Golden Valley girls team. Fresh off winning their second Masters title in four years, the Bulldogs finished fifth in the state meet, with three reaching the podium.
In addition to Roby, senior Ce Ariah Sands shook off a loss in the quarterfinals and won four consolation matches to place third, capped by an 8-2 decision over Sophia Hejnal of Modesto-Enochs to finish third.
Senior Audrey Chavez, who scored a dramatic upset win to help Golden Valley win Masters last week, won her first match Saturday morning to clinch a spot on the podium and wound up eighth with a 3-3 performance in the tournament at 160 pounds.
Three freshmen placed at this year’s event, with Highland’s Brian Alvarado (189) taking third, and Julissa Gonzalez of Shafter (137) and Mira Monte’s Julissa Perez (170) each placing seventh.
Alvarado was dominant in her first state tournament, going 5-2 while winning four on falls. Her only two losses came against top-seed Alex Perez of La Costa Canyon, first in Friday’s quarterfinal on a 4-1 decision and again in the third-place match by an identical score.
Her teammate, junior Monee Cordero, also reached the podium at 101 pounds.
Cordero, a transfer from Bakersfield High, finished 3-3 in the tournament after reaching the quarterfinals. She won her “blood-round” match to open Saturday’s action to earn her first state medal, but lost her next two matches, the final coming via a fall to No. 1 Avy Perez from Lake Balboa-Birmingham.
Garces senior Kaydence Boyd, a transfer from Highland, also finished a strong tournament and became the first Ram wrestler to reach the podium at state with an eighth place finish.