Two Valencia Vikings made it to championship bouts and five total earned podium spots at the first tournament of the season in Downey.
Sophomore Slater Hicks picked up a title belt at the Downey 32 Way tournament, winning two of his bouts at 132 pounds by technical fall and one by pin before winning by major decision in the final.
Assistant coach Patty Pearson, who led the Vikings in Downey with head coach Brian Peterson working with the junior varsity wrestlers at a tournament in Thousand Oaks, said Hicks has been working all summer to be ready to show out.
“He’s been really just focused in the room, and even in the finals, in the semifinals, just constantly looking to score points,” Pearson said in a phone interview on Monday. “And so even though he was winning, you know, many times he would cut him, let him up and just push through and constantly look for better positioning.”
Senior Dayle Cailles lost in the championship bout at 113 pounds by pin after picking up two pins and a major decision to get there.
“He’s really grown into the weight, and he wrestled great, less the finals match,” Pearson said. “I think he wound up getting caught right in the beginning, and so I’d love to run that one back.”
Also earning podium spots were: senior Henry Egami (fourth at 157); junior Evan Payne (seventh at 150); and junior Victor Feuerman (seventh at 144).
Overall, Valencia was 14th out of 36 teams.
Pearson said Feuerman showed much improvement after going 0-2 at the same tournament last year. He won by technical fall in the first round before winning a tight 13-12 decision in the second round. He overcame being pinned in the quarterfinals by winning in sudden victory in the consolation fourth round, 9-6, after being down big early on.
“He was down by like six points,” Pearson said, “and riding probably the last 30 seconds, he was able to get six points to take him into overtime, and then won in overtime … I think Victor really was a surprise there, and excited to see what he does with that.”
Valencia gets back to the mats on Thursday when the Vikings travel to Royal for the first Coastal Canyon League dual meet of the season. After that, Valencia goes up north to Lancaster High School on Saturday for the High Desert Duals.
