It was a typical Valley Oak League wrestling championship tournament at Weston Ranch on Saturday. Oakdale had 13 of the 14 weight classes covered in the finals and won 10 of those matches. The other three went to Manteca-area wrestlers – East Union’s Tyler Diaz, Manteca’s Dominik Neuharth and Sierra’s Manny Zavala.

Diaz (140 pounds) defeated Oakdale’s Payne Perkins 11-4 in the championship match.

“I was trying 100 percent the whole match,” Diaz said. “I stuck to a lot of my basics and let them take me to the win.”

Neuharth (197) dominated Oakdale’s Ben Molina in the championship match before pinning Molina.

 “I have a lot of respect for Big Ben,” Neuharth said. “I have been watching him wrestle since my freshman year. I have always tried to be a big man like him and wrestle just like him.

“And today, I just got a whole lot bigger and have my eyes on making it to the state championships.”

Zavala (285) shut out Oakdale’s Jordan Garcia in a 7-0 decision for the gold medal.

“I was trying to get a half on him,” Zarala said. “I was hoping to get him tired.

“I need to work on my halves a little more so I can get some back points.”

The Top 4 finishers will compete Friday in the two-day Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championships at Oakdale High School.

Advancing from East Union are Anthony Salcedo (134, second), Joe Luna (147, second),

Alex Yang (184, second), Anthony Vargas (172, third), Andrew Andazolo (108, fourth), Adam Jimenez (128, fourth), Niles Lacanglacang (154, fourth) and Jorge Partida (197, fourth).

From Sierra, Brendan Ramos (128, third), Ben Wheeler (147, third), Justin Walker (197, third), Alan Mejia (115, fourth), Kenny Kuwada (189, fourth) and Gabriel Balleza (220) advanced to Divisionals.  

Manteca’s Fabian Mendota (second, 108), Diego Rodriguez (115, second), Joseph Farrell (172, second), Armand Bayford (184, third), Kiersten Melan (134, fourth) and Jerry Walser (162) all advance to Divisionals.

Advancing from Weston Ranch are Adrian Hopkins (122, second), Eric Mungarro (140, third), Jonathan Ordner (154, third) and Elijah Johnson (162, third).

Trans-Valley League Championships

HILMAR – Ripon cemented itself as TVL girls champion Saturday with eight first-place finishers at Hilmar High School.

Kadence Kosaka (101), Marissa Hernandez (111), Alyssa Oliver (116), Ashley Espinoza (121), Melissa Perez (131), Riley Rangel (137), Katelynn Cardoza (143) and Kaylee Medeiros 160 all brought home gold medals for the Indians. Andrea Fierro (106) and Annie Wood (126) placed second and Emily Ahuna (150) was third. 

All will compete in the two-day South SJS Regional Qualifier beginning Friday at Central Valley High in Ceres.

For the Ripon boys, Cesar Castellanos (182, second), CJ Cavazos (220, third), Colin Speed (285, third), Salvador Guzman (120, fourth), Marcos Mejia (132, fourth) and Simon De Freitas (160, fourth) advance to the two-day SJS Division V championships beginning Friday at Rosemont High in Sacramento.

Western Athletic Conference Championships
LOS BANOS – Two Lathrop girls earned gold medals Saturday at Los Banos High.

Janida Garcia (121) and Alexis Murray (131) finished first for the Spartans and will be joined by

Kristina Rose (143) to the two-day South SJS Regional Qualifier beginning Friday at Central Valley High in Ceres.

For the Lathrop boys, Carlos Ramirez (182) finished second and Edward Cuellar (126) was fourth and advance to the two-day Division IV championships Friday at Beyer High School in Modesto.