STOCKTON — Manteca High’s Liliana Rios and Breanna Bragg will advance to the California State Wrestling Championships on Thursday in Bakersfield as a result of their top-five finishes Saturday in the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Wrestling Championships at Adventist Health Arena.
Rios advanced to the 235-pound championship match for the second straight year, tallying three consecutive pins. She came up short of repeating as section champion however, as she got pinned by Central Valley’s Alicia Espinoza.
“I knew the championship match was going to be a really hard match,” Rios said. “I wrestled her older sister last year in the finals, and I think I got pretty lucky with the move I used on her sister then. I wasn’t going to try it again, because I think she probably knew it was coming.
“I talked to some of the 190-pound girls, and they said she shoots some really good shots. I was trying to prepare for that, but heavyweights don’t really shoot, so I didn’t really know what to do. She shot a single and pulled my arm in, but I got out of the arm.”
Bragg (110) finished third by defeating Pitman’s Isabella Serrano 6-5 in the consolation finals. This was the second time Bragg, just a freshman, defeated Serrano in the tournament, and Serrano was ranked fifth in California coming into Friday.
Bragg’s win was anything but conventional. When time expired in the third period, Bragg appeared to have won 6-4, but the Pitman coach protested and it was ruled that Bragg had committed a technical violation with 20 seconds to go in the bout, causing 20 seconds to go back on the clock and for Serrano to be awarded a point.
Approximately eight or nine seconds into the extra time, whistles blew because the clock never started. Instead of putting 12 or 13 seconds back on the clock, the full 20 was dialed up again, and Bragg held on for the win.
“I feel really good right now,” Bragg said. “I wrestled that girl earlier, and she is some tough competition, and that as such a close match.
“(Vince) Bordi is like one of the best coaches ever. Without Bordi, I would not have been there. I also think it was kind of funny they had the clock going for 20 seconds for what seemed like 40 seconds. I feel strong, and I’m ready for state.”
Bordi was clearly frustrated with the match’s end.
“I have never seen anything like that before,” Bordi said. “The coach challenged something, he won the challenge, got a point and got 20 seconds put back on and the match re-started — twice.
“But that just makes it more fun when we won and ended up beating Pitman.”
Barely finishing out of the top five and just missing a trip to state were Sierra’s Valeria Galvan (190, sixth) and Ripon’s Joaquin Rodriguez (285, sixth). Manteca’s Susan Joseph (125) finished eighth.
“Honestly, I’m happy with this,” Joseph said. “I’m happy with how much I’ve grown since last year, and hopefully I will get to state next year.
“I will keep working hard in the off season work my way up.”
