The Merced Union High School District will be well represented at this week’s Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Tournament Stockton with 50 boys and girls wrestlers qualifying from the six high schools across the District. The tournament will be held at Adventist Health Arena with the ultimate goal of punching a ticket to the CIF State Championships at the Dignity Health Arena in Bakersfield Feb. 25-26th.

 

The Livingston High girls wrestling team finished second to Pitman at the Sac-Joaquin Section South Regional at Central Valley High on Saturday. The Wolves advanced eight wrestlers to Masters and racked up 160 team points. The Wolves were led by senior Aleyda Revuelta, who won the 130-pound championship. Lexi Perez finished runner-up at 145 points and Aalliyah Jordan (105) and Noemi Revuelta (135) placed third.

 

The Atwater girls finished third with 130 points at the same regional with seven wrestlers qualifying for Masters. The Falcons were led by Juliana Silvera (170), who finished second and Giselle Urquizo (100), who placed third.

 

El Capitan’s Audrina Moreno (190) came away with the regional championship by defeating Hilmar’s Arely Ambriz 7-4 in the finals. Moreno became the first female El Capitan wrestler to win a regional title. “We have faith that she will wrestle her way at Masters and place high enough hto qualify for state,” said El Capitan coach Gaby Aguilar. 

 

Merced High’s Maya Rodriguez also won her division with a 3-2 victory over Turlock’s Allah Bertalotto in the 100-pound final. Rodriguez scored two points on a reversal with 50 seconds left in the match and held on for the victory. “Maya wrestled extremely well this past weekend,” said Merced coach Mark Taijerson. “She has trusted all of the work that she has been putting in the room this year and she’s seeing the well-earned rewards right now. I think she got better as the day progressed and we beat a state qualifier that we had lost to earlier on in the year.”

 

The Golden Valley girls advanced six wrestlers to Masters. The Cougars were led by Neveah Rodriguez, who finished as the runner-up in the 105-pound division and Jessi Trejo (170), who placed third.

 

El Capitan’s Kenneth Xiong (115) and Livingston’s Leo Fernandez both won individual divisional championships. Xiong defeated Merced’s Ryu Davis 5-1 in the finals at the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II Championships at Vista Del Lago in Folsom on Saturday. Xiong scored a first-round takedown to take a 3-0 lead and then tacked on two points for a reversal in the second round to extend the lead to 5-0. Xiong became the third Gauchos wrestler to win a divisional championship. 

 

Fernandez dominated from start to finish in his 115-pound final against Lathrop’s Roman Espinoza, recording three takedowns in the first two rounds to open up a 9-1 lead. Fernandez then tacked on six nearfall points in the third round to close out the technical fall for the victory.

 

Xiong is one of five Gauchos headed to Masters. William Fuller (285) came away with a third-place finish. Golden Valley will send six wrestlers to Stockon, led by Gabriel Richards’ third-place finish in the 177-pound division. Atwater’s David Meza (108) and Mason Medeiros (192) both finished fourth in their respective divisions. Merced had four wrestlers advance, including Jakob Castillo, who placed third in the 140-pound division.

 

The Masters Tournament begins with the first round of competition on Friday at 9 a.m. The boys and girls semifinals are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Saturday with the championships scheduled for 3 p.m. 

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.