Moore, Suburban Leagues come up big at CIF individual wrestling tournaments

GRAND TERRACE >> With rivalries pushed aside ‑ at least for the weekend ‑ Lakewood and Millikan delivered strong performances while representing the Moore League on Friday and Saturday at the CIF Southe Section Individual Wrestling Championships at Grand Terrace High.

Cody Williams brought home a title for Lakewood Saturday evening with a 5-0 win over Bloomington’s Luis Melecio at 182 pounds, and teammates Alex Michel (170) and Randy Gonzalez Jr. (285) captured second-place finishes.

“It’s a lot to take in,” Williams said. “I went to intensive camp over the summer and I have a personal trainer and I’m wrestling at the school. It’s wrestling year-round basically.”

Lakewood head coach Randy Gonzalez also attributed Williams’ success to the extra training and commitment.

“We tried to talk about eaing it and not deserving it, but Cody actually deserved it because Cody’s done all the right things that, as a coach, I can ask for,” he said. “It paid off, all that work.”

As a team, the Lancers finished second out of 52 competitors overall with 165.5 total points and Millikan came in fifth with 126.0. Palm Desert ended up on top after scoring 245.0.

“We’ve been working,” Gonzalez said. “A lot of the guys put time in outside the room and a lot of time in the room.”

Matt Saldana (Millikan, 106), Ricky Bautista (Lakewood, 113) and Favian Real (Millikan, 160, pin) each notched third-place finishes, while Donovan Rosas (Lakewood, 152), Isaiah Bean (Lakewood, 220) and Frank Carrillo (Millikan, 285) took fourth and Christian Robledo (Millikan, 120) was fifth.

Two of the more intense and closely contested bouts took place simultaneously as the championship and third-place heavyweight matchups both needed overtime. Gonzalez Jr. and Carrillo were defeated in the waning seconds by Jordan Faing (Rim of the World) and Gabe Herrera (Palm Desert), respectively.

The CIF Southe Section Masters Meet is set for Friday and Saturday at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario. The top five finishers from each weight class advance to the meet, with the sixth-place finishers going as alteates.

NORTHERN DIVISION >> Mayfair locked down two individual championships as Justin Pichedwatana (160) and Andrew Ramos (195) topped the list of nine Monsoons to place in Santa Maria.

Mayfair placed third as a team with 192.0 points, while La Mirada (91.0) and Gle (90.0) finished 10th and 11th, respectively, to represent the Suburban League.

Advertisement

Northview came first with 261.0 points, followed by Oak Hills (232.5).

Jake Alcobendas (Mayfair, 145) delivered a second-place finish, while Jose Alvarez (Mayfair, 106) finished third, Manuel Romero (La Mirada, 138), Micheal Estrada (Gle, 152), Anthony Arellano (Gle, 195) and Victor Ramirez (Mayfair, 220) took fourth, Richard Romo (La Mirada, 120), Carlo Reyes (La Mirada, 132) and Christopher Martin (Mayfair, 170) eaed fifth place and Eric Martinez (La Mirada, 106), Khalil Howard (Mayfair, 138), Brian Pigao (Mayfair, 182), Josiah Delgado (Gle, 220) and Joseph Tan (Mayfair, 285) finished sixth.

- - , .