LIVINGSTON — Three Lathrop wrestlers brought gold medals home from the Western Athletic Conference wrestling championships Saturday at Livingston High School.
Kiana Quintero (122 pounds) was the lone Spartans girl to win first place, and she did so with a third-round pin over Central Valley’s Tarnjot Kaur.
“In the beginning, I was a little worried, because I wrestled her (Kaur) before,” Quintero said. “And people can always get better.
“Her thighs are really strong. I didn’t know what to do in that moment, so I just did what I did best and shot what I shot. When she was on bottom, it was tough because she has a really strong, flexible base, and I got her in my double-arm bar and pinned her.”
Top-four finishers for the Lathrop girls include Timothea Maycon (third, 107), Kimberly Salazar-Torres (third, 142), Jaelyn Lum (third, 102), Chloe Panelo (fourth, 112) and Aniya Gonzales (fourth, 172). All the Spartans girls wrestlers will compete Friday in the two-day Sac-Joaquin Section South Regional Tournament.
Daniel Narvaez (115) and Damian Ceja (152) brought home the gold for the Spartans boys.
Narvaez racked up an 18-3 technical fall against Calen Adams of Ceres in the championship match.
“My first match was a little iffy,” Narvaez said. “I was really nervous in the championship, but when it started all that stuff went away.”
Ceja won the championship by technical fall, as well with an 18-3 thumping of Johansen’s Isaiah Jauregui.
“I wrestled him before, it was nothing new, but he put up a fight,” Ceja said. “I am pretty gassed, but I felt like I was in control the whole way. I feel like my shots were there, my tilts were there and my pinning combinations were there.”
Casyn Hopping (second, 217) and Andrew Chunn (fourth, 128) will join Narvaez and Ceja in Sacramento on Saturday in the SJS Division IV Boys Wrestling Tournament at Hiram Johnson High.
Nesar Khosrawi (115) and Carmine Meza (217) won gold medals for the Lathrop junior varsity.
Trans-Valley League
Gurnoor Singh took first place for Ripon at 113 pounds on Saturday, as did Jacob Hughes at 215 in the TVL championships at Hughson High.
The top-four finishers advance to the two-day SJS Division V Boys Tournament at Calaveras High in San Andreas with fifth place being the alternate.
Other Indians qualifiers were David Banales (120, second) Joaquin Rodriguez (285, second)
Ace Dougherty (138, second), Tyler Thomason (165, third), Gilbert Luiz (126, third), Austin Barros (132, third), Brayden Bynum (106, fourth), Lorenzo Hernandez (175, fourth), Kaeo Sanchez (144, fourth) and Aiden Larrew (150, fourth)
C.J. Clevenger (157, fifth) and Callen Thomason (190, fifth) will advance as alternates.
Shaylin Potter (155) won first for the Ripon girls, who will all participate in the two-day SJS South Regional Girls Wrestling Tournament beginning Friday at Central Valley High School in Ceres.
Other Indians girls finishers were Trinity Diaz (second, 110), Riya Pearson (second, 120), Jeevika Chaudhary (second, 170), Amaya Watkins-Moreira (third, 190) and Kelcie Smith (third, 235).
