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Rodriguez, Bandini Tops At Linden Duals Wrestling Meet
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As a team, Escalon wrestlers went 3-0 in the Saturday Linden Duals, topping Bear Creek, host Linden and Lincoln of Stockton to come home with top honors from the event.

Individually, there were solid performances as well, according to coach Derek Scott.

"I thought the first two matches, we wrestled really good," Scott said. "The last match, we thought we were going to win but it was a bit tougher."

Escalon shut down Bear Creek in the opening round on Saturday, 62-9 and then handled Linden with ease, 73-6. In the third round, it was a 36-26 win over Lincoln, good for the championship of the dual event.

At 103 pounds, Christian Franks went 2-1, Bryan Toy was 3-0 at 112 and Anthony Munoz was 1-1 at 119. Anthony Rodriguez went 3-0 at 130 and was voted Most Outstanding Lightweight Wrestler.

Craig Haarberg went 0-3 at 130, while Cody Bandini compiled a 3-0 mark at 135 and was voted Most Outstanding Middleweight Wrestler. Tyler Gonzales went 3-0 at 140, Tyler Draper matched that with a 3-0 at 145. Charlie McDonald went 2-1 at 152 pounds, with a 3-0 showing for Chase Keener at 160. Mike Gutierrez went 1-2 at 171 pounds, Tomas Martin was solid at 3-0 in the 189-pound bracket and Brandon Collins went 2-1 at 215. In the heavyweight division, three Cougars wrestled and each had one match. Anthony Aho was 1-0, Joe Cowan 0-1 and Paul Brown 1-0.

"Tyler Gonzales and Chase Keener both got to weight and you never know how a guy is going to do when he first makes weight, they both wrestled really good," Scott said. "Paul Brown has been battling injuries and weight, he pinned his kid in the third round so that was good."

High marks also went to Martin and Toy for going 3-0 and Scott said he was tremendously pleased to come away with two outstanding wrestler honors.

"Anthony Rodriguez, we expected he would do well and Cody has been on the verge of this for about a year, it was good to see him win," Scott said.

Next up will be the two-day, 32-team MJC Western Invitational at Modesto Junior College on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 21 and 22. The varsity then heads to Reno for the Sierra Nevada Tournament on Thursday and Friday, Dec. 27 and 28.

"These tournaments are really big," Scott said, noting that they will provide some good experience for the wrestlers.