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Wrestlers Top Ripon, Show Well In Tournaments
L SEUNG
Shown during the recent Lloyd C. Engel Tournament and wrestling at 132 pounds, Livius Seung won this match by decision. He was third overall in Pool A for his weight class at the tournament and earned sixth place honors at this past weekends Foothill Tournament in Sacramento. Marg Jackson/The Times

Starting the week out with a Trans-Valley League win in a match against Ripon, the Escalon wrestlers rounded out their schedule with tournaments for both the boys and girls over the weekend.

In the Jan. 10 match, the JV wrestlers took a 48-18 win over the Indians and the varsity crafted a 58-21 victory.

“Last year they came in and took it to us,” head coach Derek Scott said of getting a little revenge this year on Ripon’s home mats. “We won every single hard match and our younger guys did really well.”

Leading the way were Aidan Krieger and Brad Hagglund, with solid matches to get the competition underway, followed by a big win from Hugo Alcala. Other key wins in the TVL match came from Braiden Vega and Alex Jimenez. Though he took a 3-2 loss, Livius Seung wrestled well, said Scott.

On Saturday, four girls went to the Tokay Tournament and three took the mats for the Cougars. At 101 pounds, Ashley Mullan went 1-2 in her first wrestling action of the season while Adela Ley-Han went 3-2 at 106 pounds, also suiting up for her first competition. Julia Casillas went 4-1 at 116 pounds to take third place honors.

The Cougar boys went to the Foothill Tournament in Sacramento and 16 wrestlers suited up, with seven of them making it to the second day.

“That’s the most we’ve had make the second day,” Scott said.

Garrett Nash ended with a 3-2 mark at 132 pounds and Alex Jimenez broke into the top 12, going 4-2 at 126 pounds. David Ryan went 4-2 at 160 pounds, Zac Freeseha had his best outing of the season with a 3-2 record at 220 pounds.

“Jake Lawrence went 4-2 at 182 pounds but he had to take an injury default in the match to medal,” Scott explained.

Two Cougars came home with medals, Rhys Panero took eighth place with a 5-3 mark at 138 pounds and Livius Seung went 6-3 at 132 pounds for sixth place honors.

“We’re learning how to win,” Scott said of his wrestlers finding ways to prevail in close, tough matches on a more regular basis than earlier this season.

They are scheduled to host Hilmar in a 6:30 p.m. match on Wednesday, Jan. 17.

“That should be the best match of the year,” the coach said.