STOCKTON — The mats can be unforgiving at the Sac-Joaquin Masters Wrestling Championships, and Friday’s action was no different with only three of 12 local qualifiers advancing to the second day of competition this morning at the Stockton Arena.
Ripon’s Donny Fontillas (132 pounds) made it to the quarterfinals with a 7-5 decision over Tokay’s Trenton Edalgo and a 9-3 decision over Yuba City’s Kirino Delafuente before being tripped up by Pitman’s Samuel Silveria, 8-0.
“We won some matches,” Indians coach Glen White said. “We wrestled pretty well overall. We would have liked to get that last win (with Fontillas) but his opponent was really strong and skilled, and Donny just didn’t quite have it. He will be back on Saturday.
“The other guys wrestled well. You get here and it’s a whole different level and you have to be ready for that. We have some work to do with some of our younger kids.”
Sierra’s Miguel Cervantes (170) started off with a pair of pins, one in the third round over Pleasant Grove’s Nathan Valencia and a second-rounder over Bradshaw Christian’s Andrew Jeanes before getting pinned in the first round by Rocklin’s Hunter Gonzalez.
“It was a really good day for Miguel Cervantes,” Timberwolves coach John Vazquez said. “We are looking forward to Saturday and he definitely surprised us today. He wrestled hard every match and his last match was a little rough — he got caught off guard.”
East Union’s Jaysen Reindel’s first two matches at 285 pounds were first-round pins, a win over Pleasant Grove’s Ian Houston and a loss to Lucas Gramlick of American Canyon. Reindel tallied his next two wins in the consolation bracket by stopping Atwater’s Daniel Canela in the second round and Jason Gallegos of West Campus in the first.
“We have one left for tomorrow,” Lancers coach A.J. Reindel said. “Two underclassmen got put out but they both won a match and that’s good.
“Jaysen and his second-round opponent were both ranked pretty high and one of them had to lose, so now we have to fight and claw back. Hopefully, we can get a few more wins at least and qualify for State.”
Fontillas, Cervantes and Reindel must win their next two matches this morning to qualify for the CIF State Championships that begin Friday at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield.
CIF GIRLS State
VISALIA — Sierra’s Alexa Garcia (160) survived the first day of competition with a 2-1 record —
winning her first match by decision, her second by pin and losing her third by decision — and begins this morning in the consolation quarterfinals at the Visalia Convention Center.
“We made some mistakes in our third match,” Timberwolves coach Alex Nuanez said. “Alexa has done Sierra proud and we are very proud of what she has done.”
