CERES – Three local wrestlers placed Saturday in the 30-school Ceres Invitational at Phil de la Porte Gymnasium.
Manteca’s Misael Meza (152 pounds) advanced to the finals with two pins, a technical fall and a decision before facing Stagg’s Quintin Maldonado who tallied three consecutive pins on his way to the finals. Meza could not break that string and was pinned himself, finishing second.
“These were tougher matches than I expected,” Meza said. “This tournament usually pushes me but this year’s competition was a little bit extra.”
Meza’s teammate Luis Rosas (140) posted a major decision and a pin before losing in the semifinals and then losing a 5-0 decision to Golden Valley’s Aaron Avila in the third-place match.
“I felt like I could have worked harder,” Rosas said. “I was dealing with my knee but I can’t let that be an excuse.
“Just have to get back to work in the wrestling room.”
The Buffaloes were long on heart but short on experience.
“It was a good performance,” Manteca coach Vince Bordi. “We don’t have lot of guys who have wrestled before.
“But we had some good performances from our middle weights and heavies and we need to work on our lighter weights.”
East Union’s Nico Salcido (140) finished 5-1, but because of the six-match rule Salcido could finish no higher than fifth, which he did
“When you have a 32-man bracket trying to fit into a one-day tournament, sometimes you reach that match limit,” Salcido said. “I should have been wrestling for at least third, but I lost early on and that hurt me.
“I feel good, I feel like I am definitely working on my matches, but I am not satisfied. I need to get better.”
The Lancers are short on experienced wrestlers as well.
“I am kind of disappointed, but at the same time I kind of expected us to struggle a little bit,” East Union coach A.J. Riendel said. “We are inexperienced and I am a bit disappointed in a couple of performances but it is early in the season and you have to learn from them.
“Salcido had a tough draw, facing the No. 1 seed and eventual champion in the second round. Nico did his job afterwards to come back and win four in a row.”
