OAKDALE – East Union’s Alan Huerta is going to the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters championships – but he took the long way and almost did not make it.
After getting knocked to the consolation round Friday in the SJS Division III championships at Oakdale High, Huerta needed to win the next three matches for a Top 4 finish at 145 pounds and a ticket to Masters. He got pins Friday over Mira Loma’s Daniel Montoya and Sierra’s David Ketner and needed a win over Noah Venethongkhan of Inderkum-Sacramento on Saturday to guaranty a trip to Masters. With less than a minute left in the match, that trip seemed unlikely.
Venethongkhan was enjoying a commanding 12-6 lead when Huerta manged to turn him and get the pin for the consolation semifinal win. Huerta got pinned in the consolation finals and finished fourth.
Huerta said of his match with Venethongkhan, “I just pulled the arm in and caught it. I was able to turn him.”
“I went out there and fought as hard as I could and tried to win,” Melena said.
Sierra’s Branden Rullan (120) posted two pins and a decision in his first three matches to earn a berth in the championship against Oakdale’s Cody Williams. Rullan took an early lead and mounted a late comeback but finished second, losing 9-5.
“It feels good, but I still think I could have done better,” Rullan said. “I slipped on a couple of my shots and he had a good head in the hole.
“In the end I was taking sloppy shots and not setting them up right because I was losing.”
Manteca’s Tyler Welch (170) was sent to the consolation bracket with a semifinal loss and did not lose again, getting two pins with the second over Vista del Lago-Folsom’s Jesse Zhang for third place.
“I was hoping to wrestle for first today,” Welch said. “But I ended up wrestling for third.
“I came out flat in my first match, but came out stronger and faster in my second.
“I didn’t get to see him (Zhang) wrestle earlier, so I didn’t get to do my strategy thing. I just kind of went off of what he was doing during the match.”
East Union’s Jaysen Reindel (220) was also dispatched to the consolation round after a semifinal loss, and he wasted little time earning his ticket to the consolation finals with a quick pin over Oakdale’s Nico Sarale.
In the third-place match, Reindel fell behind to Casa Roble-Orangevale’s Dylan Amos before coming back to pin Amos for the consolation championship.
“I wasn’t feeling too good mentally after my first match and physically I was tired,” Reindel said. “So in my second match I tried something I never had – I took a shot. My dad (East Union coach A.J Reindel) told me to and he was right – it worked.
“In my last match I just kept my head in it the whole time and didn’t lose my composure.”
East Union finished in sixth place and other Lancers advancing to the Masters on Friday at the Stockton Arena from East Union are Joel Melena (third, 182) and Jason Betlej (fourth, 145). Anthony Contreras (138) and Ruben Gallegos (160) finished sixth and will not advance.
Also placing were Jackson Rusconi (fifth, 106) from Sierra, Carlos Hernandez (fifth, 285) from Manteca and Alejandro Tolvar (sixth, 182) from Lathrop.
