Sunset Conference starred with 10 wrestling champs in CIF Inland Division finals
The host Fountain Valley wrestling team took down the competition to the tune of a 333-204 margin of victory over runner-up Hesperia in the CIF Southern Section Inland Division individual wrestling championships, a dominant performance in front of the hometown faithful on Feb. 10.
“That’s the best we’ve done ever,” said Fountain Valley coach Brad Woodbury, who saw his team produce eight finalists. “It’s great. To have eight in the championships, winning [the CIF finals], it was great. Those kids worked their butts off, so hard work paid off.”
Hunter Jauregui (106 pounds), Anthony Lucio (126), Hercules Windrath (138), Rocky Windrath (165), Khale McDonnell (190) and Ryland Whitworth (215) won CIF titles for the Barons.
“It’s kind of sad I’m not going to come back, but at the same time, it’s been great every time,” Whitworth, a three-time CIF champion, said of competing in the Fountain Valley gym. “Good memories, a good way to end it.”
Whitworth also earned honors as the top upper-weight wrestler of the meet, recording all pins in the least amount of time.
Corona del Mar had three finalists in Antonio Aramburu (157), Zion Hernandez (175) and Eugenio Franco (190). The first two took home titles, and they have both committed to San Francisco State.
“It’s an awesome feeling, especially to be able to dominate the entire match, rode [Irvine’s Hadi Hammoudeh] out for basically two periods,” Hernandez said after repeating as a section champion. “There wasn’t an offensive score on me whatsoever, all defensive scores, which is pretty nice. That was actually my goal for this tournament.”
Aramburu and Hernandez are also sparring partners in club wrestling.
“I’m just trying to have fun with my team,” Aramburu said. “This year, especially, it’s different. We’re trying to accept it that it is our last year [of high school].”
Newport Harbor, which placed third as a team, also had two weight-class winners in Demian Pryima (132) and Anthony Manno (150).
Manno became a back-to-back champion, securing a pin of Fountain Valley’s Christian Stoeber with time running out in the second overtime period.
“I didn’t think I was going to get that cradle,” Manno said. “I thought no way I was going to get that. I thought I was just going to ride him out, it was going to another ride out, I was going to pick neutral, and that was going to kind of be the match. I didn’t think I was going to get that at all. That kind of just surprised me.”
The Inland Division finals served as a qualifying tournament into the CIF Masters Meet, which was being contested Friday at Palm Springs High. Weight classes were split into two brackets — blue and gold — with the top five in each bracket advancing to the state championship meet Feb. 22-24 at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield. Results were unavailable at press time.
The Masters Meet for girls’ wrestling will take place on Saturday at Palm Springs, with the top four in each bracket — for a total of eight in each weight class — moving on to the state tournament.
CIF Southern Section Inland Division finals
At Fountain Valley High
Team Results
1. Fountain Valley 333; 2. Hesperia 204; 3. Newport Harbor 183; 4. Victor Valley 173.5; 5. Corona del Mar 166; 6. Sultana 127.5; 7. Laguna Hills 111.5; 8. Irvine 107; 9. Oak Hills 98.5; 86.5; 10. Los Alamitos 86.5; 19. Huntington Beach 49.5; 25. Laguna Beach 34; 26. Edison 33; 28. Marina 25.5.
Individuals
106 — Hunter Jauregui (Fountain Valley) pins Zachary Southern (Hesperia), 1:07.
113 — Paulo Valdez (Hesperia) inj. def. Cael Humphrey (Sultana).
120 — Rocky Humphrey (Sultana) dec. Cody Dalebout (Beckman), 4-1.
126 — Anthony Lucio (Fountain Valley) dec. Andrew Diaz (Hesperia), 9-7.
132 — Demian Pryima (Newport Harbor) dec. Emiliano Hernandez (Hesperia), 8-2.
138 — Hercules Windrath (Fountain Valley) dec. Chris Guerrero (Hesperia), 4-3.
144 — Avian Singh (Victory Valley) dec. Angel Salgado (Hesperia), 3-2.
150 — Anthony Manno (Newport Harbor) pins Christian Stoeber (Fountain Valley), 7:24 (2OT)
157 — Antonio Aramburu (Corona del Mar) dec. Noah Zotea (Fountain Valley), 4-2.
165 — Rocky Windrath (Fountain Valley) dec. Isaiah Sandoval-Yell (Oak Hills), 10-6.
175 — Zion Hernandez (Corona del Mar) dec. Hadi Hammoudeh (Irvine), 6-2.
190 — Khale McDonnell (Fountain Valley) dec. Eugenio Franco (Corona del Mar), 4-3.
215 — Ryland Whitworth (Fountain Valley) pins Joseph Tierney (Irvine), 0:39.
285 — Marcus Ochoa (Serrano) dec. Jeremy Harris (Woodbridge), 8-4.
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