Sierra’s Johnny Hosmer led Oakdale’s Nate Petino by a point after the first round Saturday before catching Petino in the second round for a pin at 126 pounds and one of the three gold medals for local wrestlers in the Valley Oak League wrestling championships at Sierra High.
“I just tried my hardest and did what I was taught to do,” Osmer said. “I had to stick out his arm to get both shoulders down for the pin.”
Sierra’s Marco Sablan (160) came out fast and pinned Justin Jericoff of Oakdale in the first round for the championship.
“I tried to roll him a couple of times early in the round,” Sablan said. “I just tried to find my angle and get the right weight distribution so I could catch him off guard.”
East Union’s Jaysen Reindel (285) was still not 100 percent after a bout with the flu but showed no long-lasting effects from the illness with a first-round pin in the championship match against Chris Mendoza of Central Catholic.
“It was a good day,” Reindel said. “I came in here and did what I had to do to go to Divisionals.
“I’m happy, I’m ready for Divisionals and hopefully beyond.”
Lathrop’s Keonnee Linnell (152) battled Oakdale’s Dakota McNeil through three rounds when McNeil got two back points in the closing seconds for a 6-4 win, knocking Linnell into second place.
“The journey to get to this point has been pretty crazy,” Linnell said. “In my last match I had a lot of opportunities I could have taken but I hesitated.
“This is something for me to learn from for when I go to Divisionals next week.”
The Top 4 advance to the two-day Sac-Joaquin Section Division III Championships at River Valley High in Yuba City on Friday.
Qualifying from East Union were Tyler Diaz (113, second); Joe Luna (132, second); Nick Cervantes (120, third); Joe Luna (132, third); Trinidad Diaz (152, third); Nicholas Sims (195, third); Joe Patton (126, fourth); and Connor Galloway (145, fourth).
Manteca qualified Diego Rodriguez (106, second); Dominic Day (138, second); Third Sumatal Safi (132, third); Jacob Welch (162, third); Armon Bayford (220, third) and Trevor Spohn (152, fourth).
Lathrop advanced Elijah Thomas (145, third); Sebastian Iniguez (170, third); Karanveer Singh (120, fourth); Mysson Harrell (132, fourth) and Denny Jay (220, fourth).
Miguel Cervantes (170) placed second for Sierra with teammates Joshua Faustino (285) finishing third and Myson Hosmer (182) and Jordan Black (196) finishing fourth.
Weston Ranch’s Jose Andrade (120) finished second.
Trans-Valley League Championships
ESCALON – Donovan Fontillas (132 pounds) led Ripon to a third-place finish Saturday and was named outstanding TVL lightweight wrestler with his first-place finish.
Ripon’s Andrew Huynh (106) also won a gold medal.
Phillip D’Angelo (195) and Owen Gollinger (285) finished second for the Indians; Justin Swilley (126), Brandon Rosa (182) and Giovanni Medina (220) were third and Haris Demidzic (120) and
Nathan Valdez (160).
All nine Ripon wrestlers who finished in the Top 4 will participate in the two-day SJS Division V championships at Delhi beginning on Friday.
