The Valencia High wrestling program advanced four wrestlers to the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet, including one who placed first at the Northern Division championships this past weekend.
“I expected that,” Valencia head coach Brian Peterson said in a Wednesday phone interview. “It would have been nice to get another one through, or another two through, but we had a razor-close call with Denicio Diaz.”
Trinity Classical Academy’s Hudson Sweitzer also advanced to the Masters Meet after placing third at 215 pounds at the Central Division championships. He lost in the second round before winning six straight bouts to capture third, racking up three pins in the tournament.
“He is a strong kid, good athlete,” Peterson said. “I was impressed with his third-place performance at CIF. And you don’t really know what’s gonna happen, but Hudson is like a wild card. He could be in there.”
Valencia sophomore Slater Hicks is one step closer to getting back to the state meet after doing so as a freshman, placing first at 126 pounds at Mira Costa High School.
Hicks was seeded first and received a bye in the first round before winning by technical fall in the second round, pin in the quarterfinal and technical fall in both the semifinal and final.
He remains as the No. 5 wrestler in the Feb. 12 CalGrappler rankings. Each of the four wrestlers ranked above Hicks and below him placed at the state meet last year.
Valencia senior Dayle Cailles (113 pounds) and junior Alejandro Navarro (132) each took second in their brackets. Senior Henry Egami placed fifth at 157 pounds despite picking up an injury early in the tournament.
“He says he’s gonna go for it. He wants to try,” Peterson said of Egami continuing to compete.
Cailles won each of his bouts by pin before losing by technical fall in the final.
Navarro pinned his first two opponents and then won in the quarterfinal via an 11-7 decision. He won by decision to reach the final, where he lost by technical fall.
Egami also pinned his first two opponents and then won in a decision in the quarterfinals. After dropping to the consolation bracket, he lost via a major decision before winning by technical fall in the fifth-place match.
Those five wrestlers are set to compete at the Masters Meet on Saturday at Sonora High School. The top 10 placers in each weight class — each weight will be divided into two brackets, meaning the top five in each bracket will move on — will automatically qualify for the state meet.
Valencia placed fifth overall as a team, garnering 127 points. Esperanza High School ran away with the team title with 350.5 points, more than double what second-place Yucaipa High School got.
Peterson said Valencia’s fellow Coastal Canyon League teams all performed well.
“I was pretty proud of it,” he said. “And even our league, you know, if you think about it, we were fourth in our league and fifth in CIF … The league is really strong. To have five schools in the top 15 — there’s no other league in CIF that did that.”
The state championships are set to be held Thursday, Feb. 27, through Saturday, March 1, at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield.
