CA State Tournament This Weekend

[AgSurfer]

CA is having their state tournament a week early this year so they can combine the boys and girls tournament into one. Let's see how it works out.

Anyone have any suggestions on who to keep an eye on? I know that Figueroa is really good. He has given a verbal to ASU, but maybe we can flip him before he actually signs. I'm sure Zeke would like that.

Abas from Rancho Bernardo is pretty good too, but he's committed to Stanford next year. Don't know who else to watch, but there have been some good finals matches the last few years. I think Clovis is in a little bit of a down year and may not have anyone in the finals for the first time in a while. Tirapelli is a great coach though, so I could be wrong about that. Buchanan and Gilroy are probably the two top CA programs right now.

 

[El-Jefe]

Jesse Vazquez.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Anyone have any suggestions on who to keep an eye on? I know that Figueroa is really good. He has given a verbal to ASU, but maybe we can flip him before he actually signs. I'm sure Zeke would like that.

I can't give you any insight into which CA wrestlers PSU may be looking at. If you're going just on talent, besides Figueroa, I'd keep an eye on the following:

- 106: Jack Gioffre (Buchanan)
- 113: Tristan Lujan (Selma) -- verballed to Fresno St
- 113: Carlso Negrete (Buchanan)
- 120: Maximo Renteria (Buchanan)
- 120: Jacob Rivera (Selma)
- 120: Brandon Paulson (Clovis)
- 120: Joey Cruz (Clovis North)
- 126: Aaron Nagao (Esperanza)
- 126: Jason Miranda (Poway)
- 126: Devin Murphy (Clovis North)
- 132: Ryan Franco (Clovis North)
- 132: Marcos Polanco (Bishop Amat) -- verballed to Minnesota
- 138: Jesse Vasquez (Excelsior)
- 138: Chase Saldate (Gilroy) -- verballed to MSU
- 145: Jaden Abas (Rancho Bernardo) -- verballed to Stanford
- 145: Cael Valencia (St. John Bosco)
- 145: Luka Wick (San Marino)
- 152: Jace Luchau (Selma) -- verballed to Fresno St.
- 152: Sonny Santiago (St. John Bosco) -- verballed to Arizona St.
- 152: Aaron Gander (Poway)
- 160: Matt Olguin (Buchanan) -- verballed to Fresno St.
- 170: Trey Munoz (Trabuco Hills) -- verballed to Arizona St.
- 195: Ryan Reyes (Gilroy) -- verballed to Fresno St.
- 195: Jacob Good (Clovis) -- verballed to Arizona St.
- 220: Victor Jaques (Bellarmine) -- verballed to Cal St. Poly
- 285: Nicholas Villarreal (Gilroy)

Have fun!

 

[zzs006]

Jesse Vasquez at 138. One of my favorite kids in the entire country. Would love for him to come to PSU but I’ve heard he’s probably headed to an Ivy League school. This is his 3rd hs in 3 years as well. Not sure what that’s about.
I also really like Maximo Renteria at 120. Fun to watch

 

[District four]

I can't give you any insight into which CA wrestlers PSU may be looking at. If you're going just on talent, besides Figueroa, I'd keep an eye on the following:

- 106: Jack Gioffre (Buchanan)
- 113: Tristan Lujan (Selma) -- verballed to Fresno St
- 113: Carlso Negrete (Buchanan)
- 120: Maximo Renteria (Buchanan)
- 120: Jacob Rivera (Selma)
- 120: Brandon Paulson (Clovis)
- 120: Joey Cruz (Clovis North)
- 126: Aaron Nagao (Esperanza)
- 126: Jason Miranda (Poway)
- 126: Devin Murphy (Clovis North)
- 132: Ryan Franco (Clovis North)
- 132: Marcos Polanco (Bishop Amat) -- verballed to Minnesota
- 138: Jesse Vasquez (Excelsior)
- 138: Chase Saldate (Gilroy) -- verballed to MSU
- 145: Jaden Abas (Rancho Bernardo) -- verballed to Stanford
- 145: Cael Valencia (St. John Bosco)
- 145: Luka Wick (San Marino)
- 152: Jace Luchau (Selma) -- verballed to Fresno St.
- 152: Sonny Santiago (St. John Bosco) -- verballed to Arizona St.
- 152: Aaron Gander (Poway)
- 160: Matt Olguin (Buchanan) -- verballed to Fresno St.
- 170: Trey Munoz (Trabuco Hills) -- verballed to Arizona St.
- 195: Ryan Reyes (Gilroy) -- verballed to Fresno St.
- 195: Jacob Good (Clovis) -- verballed to Arizona St.
- 220: Victor Jaques (Bellarmine) -- verballed to Cal St. Poly
- 285: Nicholas Villarreal (Gilroy)

Have fun!

MAXIMOOOO. Lol .That's a Penn State name .sounds good with Roman Bravo Young

 

[jmadden1998]

Jesse Vasquez at 138. One of my favorite kids in the entire country. Would love for him to come to PSU but I’ve heard he’s probably headed to an Ivy League school. This is his 3rd hs in 3 years as well. Not sure what that’s about.
I also really like Maximo Renteria at 120. Fun to watch

Or a Big 10 school

The recruit is the #6 ranked Jesse Vasquez of Excelsior high school. In a brief interview with IAwrestle Vasquez stated that he has mutual interest with the Hawkeye program. Vasquez commented he would like to keep his school list private though he has also tweeted graphics from other top programs Ohio State and Cornell.

One of the things that Vasquez mentioned interests him in the Iowa program is their tradition.

“The one thing in particular that I admire about Iowa is that they have an incredibly successful historical background in producing champions in wrestling, and still do to this very day.” said Vasquez, who then went on to mention that wrestling won’t be the only factor in his ultimate decision, “Success in wrestling is not my only endeavor in college and therefore I’m not choosing a college only based on their wrestling program. I’m looking for a college that can support all of the other dimensions of college that I need.”

 

[burnsie1983]

Look for any yet to be indentified Nevills boys.

 

[James P. Whitters III]

another Wick in Bono's pipeline I see

 

[El-Jefe]

Buchanan might be pretty good.

 

[Ian]

Got to love Cael Valencia!!!!

 

[psugrad85]

First year in a long time with no Nevils brother.

 

[Ian]

2019 CIF State Boys Wrestling Championships Final Results

(106) Richard Figueroa (So., Selma) d. Jack Gioffre (Fr., Buchanan) TF 18-3

(113) Tristan Lujan (Jr., Selma) d. Carlos Negrete (So., Buchanan) Dec 2-1

(120) Maximo Renteria (So., Buchanan) d. Brandon Paulson (Sr., Clovis) Dec 3-2

(126) Aaron Nagao (Jr., Esperanza) d. Christian Nunez (Sr., Bishop Amat) Dec 8-2

(132) Kyle Parco (Sr., De La Salle) d. Ryan Franco (So., Clovis North) Dec 1-0

(138) Jesse Vasquez (Jr., Excelsior Charter) d. Chase Saldate (Jr., Gilroy) Dec 6-3

(145) Jaden Abas (Sr., Rancho Bernardo) d. Cael Valencia (So., St. John Bosco) Dec 8-7

(152) Sonny Santiago (Jr., St. John Bosco) d. Tyler Badgett (Jr., Rancho Bernardo) Dec 3-2 UTB

(160) Matthew Olguin (Sr., Buchanan) d. Noah Blake (Sr., Del Oro) MD 8-0

(170) Trey Munoz (Sr., Trabuco Hills) d. Rocco Contino (So., Buchanan) Dec 7-3

(182) Nathan Haas (Jr., St. John Bosco) d. Jonovan Smith (Sr., Birmingham) Dec 2-1

(195) Ryan Reyes (Sr., Gilroy) d. Jadon Martin (Jr., Buchanan) Dec 4-2

(220) Jacob Good (Sr., Clovis) d. Mike Ruiz (Sr., Villa Park) MD 10-1

(285) Michael Jeffus (Sr., Turlock) d. Nicholas Villarreal (Jr., Gilroy) Dec 3-2

 

[AgSurfer]

Thanks guys for the heads up going in to the tournament. I made it a point to watch for some of the guys who were named above.

Ok - here are some of my observations in no particular order of importance.

CA high school wrestling is very good. I think the best PA guys would find the CA tournament to be a genuine challenge. I wish there was a way to have a an CA vs PA dual where the best guys from both states showed up.

If you're not on one of about 10 -12 teams, your chances of winning a state title are not very good. There are a handful of teams that really dominate the HS wrestling, and most of them are located between Bakersfield and Fresno/Clovis.

The state tournament is well run and well organized. I didn't have any big issues with the refs either. There are always a few calls in every tournament where someone will disagree, but I thought the refs were pretty good quality. I did notice that they seemed to hesitate throwing out a decisive stalling call right at the end of big matches, even when I think the stalling call would have been justified. But I think most people would prefer that the refs try to avoid deciding the outcome of a match and that's what they seemed to do.

I said earlier that Clovis was in a down year, but they still took 3rd as a team with two finalists and one state champion. Buchanan was really dominating with 6 finalists and two state champions. I think they also set the new team score record this year.

Regarding individuals:

Richie Figueroa is awesome. He didn't go the distance in any match and his skill level is amazing. He wrestles a lot like Spencer Lee at last year's NCAA tournament. He has a very good ankle pick that looks like a rattlesnake strike when he hits it.

Jesse Vasquez is also fantastic, and as spyker would say, I think Cael should make a full court press even if the odds aren't real good. He wrestles a lot like RBY. His speed and reflexes are incredible, and he seems to always be aware of his mat position. On top of all that, he seems like a genuinely good person. I watched how he acted towards his opponents and he was always courteous and respectful. The kid from Gilroy gave him a great match in the finals.

They saved the 145 lb match for last. This was between Jaden Abas and Cael Valencia and it was a good choice. Abas built up a good lead in the beginning but Valencia refused to quit and almost closed the gap at the end. He scored a last second takedown but ran out of time and it ended 8-7. I think Valencia would have won in OT.

There was one issue with the tournament that bothered a lot of people. This year, they combined the boys and girls tournament into one tournament. It did have the advantage of drawing a a bigger overall crowd, but it made the tournament more of a grind, especially for the boys wrestling. The arena was only big enough for 8 mats, so the result was that the boys tournament went 3 days rather than 2. That meant that the wrestlers had to weigh in for 3 straight days which made it a little hard on guys who were cutting a lot of weight. Also, they ran the boys and girls finals concurrently, and after every finals match, they took about 10 minutes to award the medals for both the boys and girls. That made the finals drag out way too long. They started about 5:30 pm and we didn't get out of there until around 9:30. By that time, everyone was more than ready to go home. I also can't help but think that it affected the performance of the wrestlers who had to wait until last.

Other than that, I thought it was a good wrestling event well worth watching. I got to see some old friends from San Diego who are there every year. Also, when waiting in line for the finals, I had the good fortune to see Troy Steiner standing right in front of me. I made it a special point to congratulate him for his team's performance at Fresno State and he was very gracious with his response. That's a school that did everything right when they decided to restart their program.