STOCKTON — Trevor Smith came to Day 2 of the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Tournament with business to handle.
After a championship-clenching 9-4 win over Vacaville’s Chris Lai, Smith’s task was complete.
Smith outlasted three other area wrestlers who battled their way into Friday’s session, securing his 182-pound championship along with punching his ticket to the California Interscholastic Federation State Championships.
“We try to get him to wrestle the same way he does every time and just stick with what he does,” Ripon head coach Glen White said. “He may not be as flashy as other guys, but he gets it done. Sometimes I think kids wonder how he beats them, but he just does.
“He just wins.”
Smith’s journey was no walk in the park; he won in overtime his second-round match Thursday, opened Day 2 with a taxing 1-0 win over Mehrdad Alvandi of Mira Loma, and trailed 4-3 in the championship match before scoring the match’s final six points.
“It feels great,” said Smith, whose older brother Travis advanced to state last year as a senior. “Before this year I was barely able to win one match, now I’m here, and I’m winning it, and I’m going to state.
“This really feels great.”
Smith’s Ripon teammate Trevor Daniel was one of two area wrestlers who saw his quest for the state championships fall one victory short, losing to Oakdale’s Dustin Harris in the 160-pound seventh-place match.
Manteca High’s Charlie Alvitre’s hopes to make it to state came crashing down with a 6-4 loss to Vacaville’s Anthony Hernandez in the 113-pound’s final placing order. Alvitre pulled off a 9-5 victory to start the day, closing the tourney with a 4-3 run.
“I feel really good about what Charlie was able to do because for your team to grow the rest of the kids have to feel what winning is about,” Manteca head coach John Vasquez said. “So having Charlie around and all of this winning, it is definitely a good pay off for the team as a whole.”
Alvitre was actually the lone area Valley Oak League wrestler with tournament life after Lathrop High’s Andrew Aquino suffered a technical-fall defeat to eventual seventh-place 120-pounder Josh Vilaflor from Franklin of Elk Grove.
Aquino still blazed a trail that will undoubtedly set the bar for an up-and-coming Spartan wrestling program.
“I was the first to get to divisonals, I was one of the first to make it to Masters, and the first to make it to the second day,” Aquino said. “With our high school just starting, I feel like I’ve set a good example. What I wanted to accomplish was to get to state, sadly I failed, but I gave it my all and I went out fighting.”
