Escalon's JV wrestlers were undefeated Trans-Valley League champions and the varsity squad also claimed the top spot, edging out second place Hughson in the TVL finals Saturday at Riverbank.
For the JV team, their season ended but did so with four champions and plenty of medals.
Taking home league titles at the JV level were Jonathan Dietzel, 120 pounds; Trent Busch, 126; Paxton Brogan, 160; and Nathan Reichert, 195 pounds. For Dietzel and Reichert, it was their first tournament championship.
Second place honors went to Chase Thompson, falling in overtime; Alvaro Vasquez, Hunter Calton, Daniel Wallace and Juan Silva. In third place at the TVL tourney were Fabricio Gallo, Jonathon Moreno and Clayton Keener. Fourth place finishers were Frank Martins and Daniel Gonzales.
"They finished out as undefeated TVL champions," said coach Derek Scott, pleased with the effort by the JV squad.
The Cougar varsity, along with looking to nail down the league title, was looking to advance as many wrestlers as possible to the Divisionals, coming up Friday and Saturday at Lindhurst High School in Olivehurst. The varsity scored 210 team points on Saturday, finishing ahead of second place Hughson, which came in with 189 points. Of the 14 weight classes, the Cougars took championships in five and second place in six more. They automatically advance 13 of their 14 wrestlers for top four finishes and their lone fifth place wrestler will also likely attend Divisionals, to fill out the heavyweight class.
Brendon Belman took fifth at heavyweight, while Travis Parks took fourth at 195 pounds in his first varsity action. Clayton Jones earned third place at 113 pounds, coming back from an injury, and there were several second place finishers, falling in the finale. Khyle Delucchi was second at 106 pounds, with Cameron DuBois taking second at 120 pounds. Colton Camara was second at 126, Josh Redding at 145, Garrett Wade at 160 and A.J. Camarena at 182. Of those, Redding was most impressive, said Scott.
"He continues to improve every week," the coach noted.
League champions for Escalon came at 132 pounds, Tyler Lawrence; 138, Jason Robbins, who pinned all his opponents; 152, Austin Martinez, who avenged an earlier season loss on the way to the title; Johnathon Costa at 170 and Dominic Freeseha at 220 pounds, who pinned all his opponents as well.
"We were real happy, 13 of the 14 qualified for sure to Lindhurst, the first two rounds will be on Friday and the medal round on Saturday," Scott said. "This week we'll be focusing on getting our guys ready, looking for a good seed into the Masters."
Team Titles, Championship Honors For Wrestlers