Six local wrestlers headed to State
MHS, PHS each send three
Monache and Porterville High School will each be sending three wrestlers to the CIF Boys Wrestling State Tournament after finishing in the top nine at the CIF Central Scection Masters Tournament in Lemoore on Saturday.
In team scores, both Monache and Porterville also ranked in the top 20s. The Panthers tied for 14th with 30 points and the Marauders took 19th with 19 points.
Monache junior Beau Bradley, in the 145-weight class, and Porterville senior Adrian Zendejas (160) both finished in fifth place, the highest out of a total of nine wrestlers that competed.
After pinning his first opponent ,Trend Tracy of Frontier in 5:34, Bradley lost by a 13-3 major decision in the second round. He won his next two matches 4-2 and then 6-3, before losing his next match 6-4.
Bradley defeated Tracy again 4-2 to take fifth place.
In the 160-weight class, Zendejas defeated Granite Hills senior Brandon Escalera 6-0 in the first round before losing 13-0 in the second round. Zendejas pinned his following opponent in 3:54.
Zendejas lost 1-0 in a tight match with the eventual third-place finisher Ricky Gonzalez of Bakersfield and his opponent for fifth place medically forfeit. It was the second medical forfeit win for Zendejas.
Monache’s Mark Cardwell, one of Zendejas’ medical forfeit wins in the final consolation rounds, finished in eighth place after only being able to compete in two out of four rounds. He won one 12-7 and the other 10-3.
Porterville freshman Brian Benevidez (106) and junior Joey Sandoval (170) did well. Benevidez lost his first match and then won his next two 6-0 and 5-2. He took seventh-place after his opponent medically forfeited.
Sandoval pinned his opponent 4:52 in his first round but lost in the next round. He won his next two matches 4-3 and 3-0 but then lost 11-5 to take sixth place.
Junior Jared Callison from Monache took ninth after pinning his opponent in 1:44.
Monache sophomore Isaiah Rios (126) and
Porterville senior Marco Benevidez (113) did not place after losing back-to-back matches.
GIRLS WRESTLING
After winning her second straight Masters title two weeks ago, Porterville High School wrestler Lorna Mendoza was unable to place in the CIF Girls State Wrestling Championships on Friday and Saturday.
Competing in the 150-pound weight class,
the senior was knocked out of championship competition in the first round after Abbi Turner of Corona pinned her in 4:55.
In the consolation rounds, Mendoza received a bye for the first round before winning 10-3 over her opponent. She was defeated 4-0 in the third round by Kaitlain Gilmour of Enoch.
In the previous CIF Central Section Girls Masters tournament,
Porterville senior Carmen Tapia finished second in the 143-weight class, but struggled at the State tournament this weekend.
After receiving a first round bye in the championship round, Tapia was pinned in 3:01 by Destiny Cunningham of Hillcrest and bounced out to the consolation round. Tapia also was unable to place after being pinned by Gianna Anaya of San Fernando in 4:48.