IN SPORTS: BERNAL SHINES AT TIGERS INVITATIONAL
Bryanna Bernal has made sacrifices in her eating habits and workouts in the last three months.
The Tokay High girls 145pound wrestler is starting to see the results of health changes. Considering that last year, Bernal was one of five Tigers who earned a berth into the CIF Girls Wrestling State Championships last winter.
The new lifestyle reflected on her perfect performance at the annual Lady Tigers Invitational at The Jungle on Saturday. The senior won her weight class championship with a 5-0 record.
In the championship match, Bernal faced Vista del Lago of Folsom’s Cinnamon Bailey. Countering each other’s moves the first two rounds, Bernal used a fat man roll to pin Bailey toward the end of the third round for the title.
“(The fat man roll) you pull down on their arms, and throw them over you,” Bernal said. “They get unbalanced.”
In the semifinals at the invitational, Bernal, a senior, pinned St. Patrick of Vallejo’s Kaleena Yra. Bernal also defeated Heritage of Brentwood’s Lea Navales and Chico’s Mariela Galvan. Yra, along with Navales and Galvan, took fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively in the weight class.
Scouting her opponents paid off for Bernal. Watching the trio compete on the mat and see what their strengths helped establish part of her game plan against them.
“I would watch their matches before I have to wrestle them,” Bernal said. “I talked to (Tokay coach George Bozovich) about what moves would be best.”
Using the slide-by and the fat man roll moves led to Bernal recording the hardfought matches over Bailey and Yra.
“The slide by, you just pushed into them and they want to push back, but you pull them over you,” Bernal said.
After five matches, Bernal felt like she could keep going.
“I wasn’t exhausted,” Bernal said. “Overall, I have a lot more confidence in me.”
This was the first tournament this season that Bernal competed at 145, Bozovich noted. When the season started last November, Bernal, while en route to losing weight, wrestled at the 191, 172 and 162 classes.
“At first they were too strong,” Bernal said.
Bozovich added, “She’s been heavier girls who are stronger. We were trying to work her back … (Saturday) this was the first time she wrestled at that weight (145) this year. You can see the difference; we see the difference in the way she moves. Her strength is getting better.
Now it’s different, she can hold them to the ground. She can work her magic and put them on their back.”
Last winter, while helping Tokay win a second consecutive Sac-Joaquin Section team title, she pinned down opponents at 132.
Now Bernal has lost 25 pounds. She credits a change of eating habits and working harder in practices, and after practices, to feel stronger.
“I had to go down on weight,” Bernal said.
Bozovich added, “We were dealing with weight issues, getting her back into shape. She’s worked real hard to get down (in weight). I kind of had to put her in a situation where I said ‘hey, if you don’t make the weight that I want you to be at, you’re not going to wrestle this week.’ We got her on a good diet, got her going.”
Bernal admitted to eating lots of pasta after the end of last season until the start of this season. She still eats one of her favorite foods, but now very limited. She has substituted her cravings for chocolate for fruits.
“I’ve been eating them (pasta and chocolate) less,” Bernal said. “A lot of fruits instead of candy. I’ve started eating a lot of oranges.”
Third place finishers for Tokay were Yesenia Ruiz (133), who finished with a 4-1 record, and Paige Bean (197) who had a 3-1 mark. Both won their matches through the semifinals, where they lost their matches but bounced back in their final contests of the day.
Other Tokay wrestlers who placed at the tournament were Alize Mendez (113), who took fourth at 3-2; Anayeli Ochoa (118), fifth at 3-1 and Cassidy Curtis (237) at 3-2.
Lodi had one girl who placed in the top six; Julie Lopez (133) took sixth place with a 3-2 mark.
There were 42 schools that converged inside The Jungle on Saturday, and more than 300 wrestlers. One of those schools is the Tigers’ rivalry in Del Oro of Loomis. The Golden Eagles and Tigers have battled for the section title the last two seasons.
Tokay’s foes in most sports taking part at the invitational were Tri-City Athletic League foe Lincoln, plus San Joaquin Athletic Association schools Bear Creek, Chavez, Franklin, McNair and Stagg. Other schools in San Joaquin County were Escalon, Mountain House and Sierra of Manteca.
Other schools that competed at the tournament were Amador, Argonaut, Livingston, Atwater, Buhach Colony of Atwater, Chico, Cordova, Davis of Davis, Dos Palos, Mariposa, Liberty of Brentwood, Enochs of Modesto, Turlock, Brentwood, Modesto Christian, Heritage of Brentwood, Oak Ridge, Inderkum of Sacramento, Upper Lake, Reed of Reno, Nev., St. Patrick of Vallejo, Rodriguez of Fairfield, River City of West Sacramento, Vista del Lago and Will C. Wood of Vacaville,
Bay Area schools that competed were James Logan of Union City, Arroyo, Casa Grande, Menlo of Atherton, Pittsburgh, Abraham Lincoln of San Francisco and San Lorenzo,
Galt and Liberty Ranch, two Lodi area high schools that have wrestling programs, did not compete at the invitational.