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Grapplers Pin Down Seventh Place In Tournament
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Taking one first place, a second, two thirds and a fourth out of the Oakdale wrestling tournament on Saturday, Cougar wrestlers showed well at the competition.

Myles Bishop rolled his way through the tournament, compiling a 5-0 mark at 135 pounds, taking first place honors in that weight division.

"He's doing really well," coach Derek Scott said. "It looks like he's ready to take the next step."

Earning a second place medal at the meet was Ryan Lippincott at 171 pounds, going 3-1 in the competition. Third place medals went to Jon Manzo at 145 pounds, with a mark of 5-1 and Ryan Sughrue also took third, at 152 pounds, going 3-1 on the day.

"We've had some guys really improve a lot," Scott said.

Fourth place went to Atom Garcia at 112 pounds, with a 3-2 record.

"We were seventh as a team, I thought we did really well," noted Scott. "Three of our normal starters didn't go so we did well."

Brian Toy was ill and unable to attend, Joey Machado was out due to an injury and Anthony Oste was unable to compete because he didn't have the required amount of practices in.

Randy Huntington went 1-2 at 119 pounds in the varsity tournament, while Ryan Ashlock went 1-1 at 125 pounds before having to drop out with a shoulder injury. His status is day to day.

Kevin Machado was 1-2 at 130 pounds for the Cougars, Daryl Craig was 0-2 at 140 pounds and Justin Chandley went 2-1 at 160 pounds to earn a seventh place finish.

Scott Cannon was 0-2 at 189 pounds and Isaac Cherry was 0-2 at 215.

"Some guys new to the varsity looked a little bit nervous but some have really improved a lot," Scott added. "It was the first big tournament for Garcia, Manzo, Chandley and Lippincott and they did very well, we were really encouraged because the guys gave us a lot."

Twenty-five teams were entered in the 26th annual Riddle Tournament hosted in Oakdale, with the Cougars finishing seventh overall.

Earlier in the week, Escalon went to Patterson in a dual meet to kick off Trans-Valley League action and put away the Tigers in both the JV and varsity contests.

"At the JV level, we had only two matches, we won 66-6, most of the wins came on forfeits," said Scott.

Taking the mat and getting wins were Lucas Pitassi, winning by pin at 119 pounds in 1:09 and Daryl Craig at 135 pounds, winning by pin in 1:48.

For the varsity it was a 51-18 win to kick off the league season.

Brian Toy won by pin at 103 pounds, as did Atom Garcia at 112. Randy Huntington took a 6-4 loss at 119, Ryan Ashlock lost 14-5, while Kevin Machado took an 8-2 win off the mats. At 135 pounds, Myles Bishop won by pin, Joey Machado had a 9-1 loss at 140, Jon Manzo won by pin at 145. Ryan Sughrue stepped on the mat for a forfeit win at 152, Justin Chandley did the same at 160 pounds. Ryan Lippincott earned a win by pin at 171, Jesse Jimenez won by pin at 189 and Isaac Cherry had an 8-5 loss at 215 pounds. Escalon forfeited at heavyweight.

"We have a busy week ahead," said Scott. "Wednesday we are home against Hughson and they look like they will be the toughest team in league. This weekend we go to the big Coyote Classic Tournament in Bakersfield."

The Wednesday, Dec. 15 match against Hughson will feature both JV and varsity and start at 6:30 p.m. Only the varsity wrestlers will travel to Bakersfield.

By MARG JACKSON