Photos by RT Tolentino
Editor’s Note: There is a link to a 20-pic photo gallery towards the bottom of the story.
Wrestling:
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor
The dream of winning a CIF State Championship in 2024 is still a real possibility for six athletes within the 210 Prep Sports coverage zone.
Four are girls, and half of the six represent Walnut High School.
Each had just one match inside the Mechanics Bank Arena on Friday.
Walnut’s Anaya Falcon, the top seed in the 105-pound class, edged Maddison Heinzer of Gilroy, 2-0, in the quarterfinal round.
Falcon will face Jazmine Turner, the No. 4 seed from Grace Davis in Saturday’s semifinal.
The Mustangs Deandra Meza, the top-ranked girl at 110 pounds, claimed a 10-2 victory over Ajalynn Jimenez of Hillcrest.
Meza and Eden Hernandez (No. 4 seed) of Poway are set to battle tomorrow morning.
Glendora’s Sam Sachs, the No. 3 seed, grinded out her 125-pound quarterfinal match with Mason Harsch (Monte Vista).
Sachs claimed a 7-1 victory, and she needs a win over No. 2 seeded Lilyana Balderas of Anaheim.
Balderas has pinned each of her first three opponents in the first period.
Northview’s Faith Bartoszek dominated Kaylin Montano (Shadow Hills) in her 9-2 quarterfinal round match.
Bartoszek will tussle with No. 1 Gianna DiBenedetto of Bella Vista in the 140-pound semifinal.
In the last two years, Bartoszek is 2-0 against DiBenedetto in freestyle matches.
Top-seeded Ronnie Ramirez hopes to repeat as champion.
Walnut’s 120 pounder defeated Josiah Sandoval of Elk Grove, 9-1, on Friday.
Ramirez will get No. 4 seeded Moses Mendoza of Gilroy in his semifinal.
Fourth-seeded Evan Manzo is now 4-0.
The Etiwanda senior claimed a 7-3 victory over Ryan Clink (Chico).
Manzo will face St. John Bosco’s Joseph Antonio (No. 2 seed) in Saturday’s 165-pound semifinal match.
All six of the wrestlers above can place no worse than sixth tomorrow, but we and they all hope to head back to the San Gabriel Valley area as state champions.
Many other competitors can still earn a podium spot tomorrow with first-match wins on Saturday morning.
That list includes a pair of San Marino boys.
Ryder Yoshitake (144) went 1-1 on Thursday and 2-0 on Friday.
He is just one point from being 4-0.
Yoshitake defeated Jacob Perez, 4-2, and closed Friday’s action with a 9-2 decision over Jesus Loreto (Kingsburg).
Yoshitake will battle No. 3 seeded Tommy Thongseng (Exeter Union) on Saturday.
His 150-pound teammate, Mikel David Uyemura, also went 1-1 yesterday, and 2-0 on Friday.
And Uyemura’s lone setback was a one-point loss in the second round.
On Friday, Uyemura pinned Felicito Nunez (Shadow Hills) at 1:55, and he earned a third-day appearance with an 8-5 win over Jacob Beldon of San Clemente.
Uyemura will face Whitney’s Anthony Berg in the morning.
I’ll have a list of all area placers on Saturday night.
To view a photo gallery by RT Tolentino, click on the Facebook link here: Facebook
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