By Kevin Askeland
MaxPreps.com
With close to a dozen of the top teams in California participating in the Doc Buchanan Invitational over the weekend, the state rankings figure to get a fine tuning after multitude of championship matchups pitting the best wrestlers in the state.
For the most part, the No. 1 seeds and top-ranked wrestlers did not disappoint. Twelve of the 14 No. 1 seeds captured gold with the only upsets coming at 103 and 119 pounds.
In the 119-pound weight class, No. 1 seed David Klingsheim of Liberty (Brentwood) advanced to the finals with three pins and a narrow 8-6 win over Ryan Fillingame of Sultana. In the finals, however, Gilroy's Martin Gonzalez claimed the 5-4 victory and will likely moved ahead of Klingsheim in the state rankings. Klingsheim was No. 2 in the rankings behind South Hills' Thomas Williams while Gonzales was No. 3.
At 103 pounds, Paul Gomez of Liberty (Brentwood) held the No. 1 seed, but he fell in the quarterfinals to Kristina Blanco of James Logan, 3-2. That opened the door for No. 4 seed Madison Gambrell of Clovis, who pinned Blanco to reach the finals against Zach Zimmer of Clovis West. The latter, currently ranked No. 3 in the state, claimed the win, 8-3.
A total of five No. 1-ranked wrestlers won their weight classes. Jesse Delgado of Gilroy edged San Leandro's Markjay Acosta 3-2 at 112 pounds while Justin Arredondo of Buchanan topped Clovis' Stephen Weimer 7-2 at 130 pounds. David Watts of El Diamante topped Cody Bollinger of Sultana 5-3 in the 140-pound class while Rudy Burtschi of Oakdale outpointed Brett Sanchez of Clovis 5-2 at 215 pounds. Jonathan Zamora of Clovis continues to dominate the 285-pound class, pinning Eduardo Marquez of Temecula Valley in the second round.
Clovis easily won the tournament with 251 points, finishing well ahead of second place Buchanan, which had 199.5. Temecula Valley was close behind with 198.5 while Bakersfield had 194 and Selma 193.
The city of Clovis did well, placing 10 wrestlers in the finals, including an all-Clovis final at 130 pounds (Arredondo and Weimer).
Among those suffering upsets to lower ranked wrestlers included AJ Valles of Selma (112 pounds), Jonah Cruz of Bakersfield (140), Scott Sakaguchi of Clovis (145), Josh Esparza of Clovis (160), and Brad Pace of Ponderosa.
Valles lost to Acosta of San Leandro by pin in the semifinals, but came back to take third place. Cruz fell to Cody Bollinger of Sultana, 4-3, in the semifinals and eventually finished fifth. Sakaguchi lost to Jarrod Brooksher of Sultana 6-5 in the semifinals and finished third while Esparza lost to Dalton Endes of Centennial 4-3 in the semifinals and finished third.
Pace, meanwhile, was ranked No. 3 in the state, but defaulted to Brad Carls of Bakersfield in the semifinals. He then defaulted down to eighth place.
Southern California was host to a multitude of tournaments last weekend, including the Estancia Tournament, the Super Champs tourney in Nogales, the Shark Tank Invitational in Santiago, the Jim Londos Invitational at Orange Glen, the LaQuinta tournament, the Beresford tournament at Rim of the World and the Apple Valley tournament.
Irvine won the Estancia tournament with 244.5 points. Calvary Chapel finished second with 191. Scott Chene of Irvine was the lower weight MVP with four pins while Murrieta Valley's Matt Johnson was the upper weight MVP with four first-period pins.
Northview ran away with the Super Champs tourney, scoring 290 points and placing 13 wrestlers. Steven Salinas at 112 pounds was the lowerweight MVP with four pins and Josh Pearson of South Hills was the upper weight MVP with three pins at 171 pounds. Northview finished with five champions.
Mojave won the Shark Tank invite with 250 points, topping Ventura which had 208. Ventura's Erick Weisshaar took home lower weight MVP honors with five pins while Reggie Powers of Mojave was the upper weight MVP with five pins. Mojave had nine placewinners and three champions.
In Orange Glen, Vista and La Costa Canyon each had 10 placewinners, but Vista had five champions to claim the team trophy with 247.5 points. La Costa Canyon finished with one champion and 229 points. Brawley's Alfonso Osuna was the lower weight MVP while Aaron Smith of Orange Glen won the upperweight award.
North Torrance and Mt. Carmel had a close battle at Beresford. North Torrance pulling out the win with 215 points to Mt. Carmel's 206. North Torrance finished with five champions.
At La Quinta, San Jacinto held off the hosts with 219.5 points to La Quinta's 204. Koby Collins of Cathedral City had four pins to claim lightweight MVP honors while Brandon Morris of Great Oak had three pins to win the upper weight honor.
Silverado won the Al Dingwal Tournament in Apple Valley with 198 points. Silverado's Anton Pischchanetskiy was the upper weight MVP while Jonathan Anthony of Sultana was the lower weight co-winner along with Silverado's Andrew Amaral.
At the Valley of the Moon classic in Sonoma Valley, the host Dragons easily won the crown with 431.5 points. Napa finished second with 285 while Terra Linda had 250.
Crater of Oregon braved the severe weather conditions to travel to the NorCal Classic in Anderson and claim first place over Red Bluff.
Crater, behind champion Brock Gutches at 153 pounds, scored 223 points to top Red Bluff, which finished with 198.5. The Spartans had one champion in Stephan Hampton at 189 pounds.
Vacaville traveled to The Clash in Rochester, Minnesota and finished fourth in the C Bracket on day one. The Bulldogs topped Plainview Elgin-Millville 35-23 in the first round, but lost to eventual champion Apple Valley of Minnesota 56-15. Vacaville then fell to Kaukauna of Hawaii in the third-place match 37-27.
On Day two, Vacaville defeated Anoka of Minnesota, 36-33, and Ponderosa of Colorado, 36-28, but fell to Wisconsin Rapids, 37-28.