By Kevin Askeland
MaxPreps.com
If you are trying to figure out which is the best wrestling team in Clovis, and perhaps the state of California, the results of the Zinkin Classic only muddied the discussion after host Buchanan and Clovis tied for first place with 272.5 points on Saturday.
The Bears had three champions in 112-pounder Stephen Meredith, 130-pounder Justin Arredondo and 160-pounder Stephen West. Meanwhile Clovis had two champions in 145-pounder Scott Sakaguchi and heavyweight Jonathen Zamora.
Both teams had a chance to pick up the win in the championship round, but Clovis had three wrestlers lose in the finals and Buchanan had two. Jon Gay of Clovis fell to Jared Steinbach of Tehachapi at 119 pounds. Steinbach was named the tournament's most outstanding lightweight wrestler. Meanwhile Brett Sanchez lost to Jesse Bethel's Matt Gibson at 215 pounds, allowing Gibson to take home the most outstanding heavyweight wrestle award. The only head-to-head matchup between a Buchanan and Clovis wrestler in the finals found Arredondo edging Stephen Weimer for the gold.
Buchanan missed out on a chance to claim first place when Andrew Balch lost to No. 2 ranked Travis Rasmussen of Bakersfield in the 152-pound final. Meanwhile Jake Gingold fell to Bullard's Phil Brandt at 189 pounds.
Vinny Pisani of El Modena-Orange, ranked No. 3 in the state at 140 pounds, won the 135-pound weight class and was named the tournament's most outstanding wrestler.
Among the top ranked wrestlers competing at the event, Oak Ridge's Kyle West finished first at 140 pounds with a victory over Bakersfield's Jonah Cruz, who was ranked No. 2 in the weight class.
John Glenn Tournament
North Torrance held off Santa Fe to win the John Glenn Tournament. North Torrance had just one champion, Ryan Giovenco at 125 pounds, but had 10 placewinners to rack up 231.5 points. Santa Fe had four champions in Dimitri Crouch (112), Daniel Couts (152), Matt Couts (160) and Niko Crouch (171).
West Coast Classic
At the West Coast Classic in Rosemead, La Sierra had three champions and eight placewinners to win the tournament with 197.5 points. San Fernando finished second with 180 points. Redlands East Valley also had three champions, but only five placewinners and finished fifth.
Cesar Miranda (119), Stan Kelley (160) and Robert Sanchez (135) all won gold for LaSierra.
Schurr of Montebello had the tournament's best wrestler in Julian Zuniga. Ranked No. 3 in the state by the California Wrestler at 215 pounds, Zuniga won all four of his matches by pin including a second-round pin of Cathedral City's Eddie Duran in the finals. Zuniga was named the tournament's top heavyweight wrestler.
Colton Classic
At the Colton Christmas Classic, Hesperia ran away with the tournament, placing 12 wrestlers and scoring 287 points, nearly 120 points ahead of second-place Cajon. The Poway B team finished third with 150 points.
Hesperia had five champions including Ray Delgado (112), Daniel Gudino (130), Andrew Collins (135), Eric Lopez (140) and Danny Reyes (215). Collins earned lower weight MVP honors with three pins and a decision.
Hamani Stevens of Hemet, one of the top football players in the Southern Section, won all four of his heavyweight matches by pin and was named the upper weight MVP.
Northview Tournament
At the Northview Tournament, the host team fell one point short of winning the title as the Rancho Buena Vista Longhorns edged Northview 263-262 for the crown.
Northview's top two wrestlers, Steven Salinas (112) and Robert Alcantar (215) both won their weight classes as did Jacob Delgado (103), Jesse Cruz (145) and Frank Martinez (130).
Rancho Buena Vista won three weight classes including Cory Moch at 189 pounds and Cody Fanning at 152 pounds. However Trent Smith's win in the 275-pound final proved to be the clincher as he edged Kasey Cowan of Vista 3-2 to give RBV the four points it needed to surpass Northview for the title.
Western Invitational
Chad Thornock, ranked No. 4 in the state at 112 pounds, captured first place at 119 pounds at the Western Invitational to help San Jacinto win the tournament championship with 203.5 points. The Tigers also got gold medals from Daniel Tapia (103), Nathaniel Barnes (112), Adrian Salas (125), Carter Hust (160), Charlie Shogren (215) and Rene Marmolejo (275). Thornock won one match by a 15-0 technical fall and then pinned his semifinal opponent, Billy Reyes of La Costa Canyon, and his final opponent, Javier Jimenez of Garden Grove, to win the class.
Jeremy Gendreau had another strong performance to lead St. John Bosco to the championship of the Gold Coast Classic tournament at Camarillo High School. Gendreau won MVP honors for the second straight week after pinning all three of his opponents and spending just three minutes and 17 seconds on the mat.
Jacob Archibeque earned MVP honors in the upper weights with his win at 171 pounds. He helped lead Ventura to a second-place finish by pinning all three of his opponents.
Coast Classic
Gilroy, ranked No. 3 in the state by the California Wrestler, ran away with the Coast Classic in Santa Cruz, placing eight wrestlers in the top six and earning five gold medals.
Jesse Delgado, ranked No. 1 in the state at 112 pounds, had little trouble winning his division, defeating Ryan Block of Salinas 6-3 in the finals. Meanwhile Martin Gonzalez, ranked No. 5 at 125 pounds, dropped to 119 pounds and won by injury default over Del Oro's Connor Morgan in the finals. Morgan is ranked No. 2 in the 119-pound division.
Travis Sakamoto claimed first place at 145 pounds with an 8-4 decision over Victor Gonzalez of Los Gatos. Jesse Rogers, ranked No. 8 at 215 pounds, edged Freddy Duerr of Montgomery 7-1 in the finals.
The premier match of the night, however, found Gilroy's Hunter Collins pinning Brad Pace of Ponderosa in the 189-pound final. Collins entered the match ranked No. 2 in the state at 189 pounds while Pace was ranked No. 1 at 171 pounds.
Gilroy scored 243 points to top second-place Ponderosa, which had 155.5. Los Gatos was third with 146.5 points.
Among the state-ranked wrestlers to win championships, Dane Stevens of Scotts Valley (ranked No. 8) won the 140-pound weight class while Geoff Doss of Los Gatos (ranked No. 4) defeated Brock Gutches of Crater 3-1 in the finals.
Lou Bronzan Tournament
Lemoore easily won the Lou Bronzan tournament at Liberty High School, scoring 370 points to finish ahead of second-place College Park, which had 253. Elk Grove was third with 241.5 points.
Brandon Rocha decisioned Rio Linda's Justen Lockling 8-2 in the 126-pound final for one of Lemoore's champions while Julian Perez edged Liberty's Ryan Smith 8-5 to claim the 131-pound weight class.
Nicholas Sierra also finished first, defeating Drew Bush of College Park by technical fall, 15-0, in the 141-pound final. All but two of Lemoore's wrestlers placed in the tournament.
Mark Acosta of San Leandro pulled off one of the upsets of the tournament in the 112-pound finals, beating No. 3 ranked Sophan Mey of Elk Grove by pin.
David Klingsheim of Liberty was dominant at 120 pounds, pinning his four opponents leading up to the finals and then winning 22-8 over Foothill's Chase Aura in the championship match.
The tournament also marked the first outing of the year for national No. 1 Jason Welch of Las Lomas. He won four of his matches by technical fall and also had a pin. He defeated College Park's Joe Heffeimie 19-3 in the finals at 161 pounds.
Perhaps the top match of the tournament came in the heavyweight championship where No. 4 ranked Roger McCovey of Del Norte held off No. 6 ranked Andrew Benjamin of Jesuit 9-4 for the championship.
Marty Manges Tournament
Another close tournament finish found Union Mine edging host Casa Roble 153-5 to 150.5 for the Marty Manges Tournament championship.
Union Mine had two champions, which Evan Barba winning the 103-pound class and Cody Tow capturing the 125-pound weight class.
Ben Mandell of Casa Roble (140 pounds) was the most valuable lower weight while Jesse Hellinger of Winters was the most outstanding upper weight.
Bakersfield, Ponderosa, Vacaville duals
A pair of dual meets not to be missed this weekend with Bakersfield traveling up the valley to take on Vacaville on Friday night on the Bulldogs' home mat at 7:30 p.m. and then traveling to Shingle Springs to meet the Ponderosa Bruins at noon on Saturday.
Poway 3rd at Elite Super 8
Poway competed in the Elite Super 8 tournament and finished in third place with a 34-30 win over Neuqua Valley. The Titans only loss was to St. Paris Graham, which won the tournament with a 47-13 victory over host St. Edward. The win for St. Paris was the first ever victory over St. Edward and it marked the first time St. Edward lost a dual meet to an Ohio team since falling to Walsh Jesuit in 1997, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. St. Edward has won 11 straight Division 1 state championships and 23 in school history.
However St. Paris Graham entered the tournament ranked No. 1 in the country by Amateur Wrestling News while St. Edward was sixth. Poway is ranked 11th, but fell to St. Paris Graham 53-4. Poway also defeated St. Edward's B team, winning 63-3 and Westerville 56-12.
Reno TOC
The Reno Tournament of Champions high school tournament begins Wednesday, Dec. 19, at 9 a.m. with the championship matches expected to conclude on Thursday at 5 p.m.
Some of the top California teams competing include Buchanan, Calvary Chapel, Clovis West, El Diamante, El Modena, Foothill of Palo Cedro, Gilroy, Las Lomas, Lemoore, Nevada Union, Poway, Rancho Buena Vista, South Hills, Temecula Valley, Selma and Vacaville.