Unlike the continuing saga of the dual meet between Half Moon Bay-Menlo-Atherton — which was off Wednesday, back on Thursday and off again Friday.
“M-A conceded to us,” said Half Moon Bay head coach Ronnie Ekis.
The match was poised to decide the PAL Bay Division regular-season team champion. A win by HMB would have given the Cougars the outright title, their eighth in a row; a Bears victory would have forged a three-way tie, along with Burlingame.
Part of the issue was M-A “recently dismissed” their head wrestling coach, Greg Prior, M-A co-athletic director Paul Snow said in an email.
“Assistant coach Steve Wong has stepped up to get us through playoffs,” Snow said in the email.
Ekis said Wong held a team vote on whether to wrestle the dual meet or not. The team voted not to.
With the team title decided, PAL wrestlers can turn their attention to Saturday’s PAL individual championships at Sequoia High School where Half Moon Bay is expected to have a strong showing. The Cougars have the top seed in 11 of the 14 weight classes.
No spectators are allowed, but fans can stream the championship matches on BAOSN.TV beginning at 3:30 p.m.
David Segura is seeded No. 1 at 115, followed by Christian Navarette, who is ranked No. 11 in CCS by CCSrank.com and is the top seed in the PAL 122-pound bracket. Navarette wrestled up a weight class, 126, for most of the season and took his share of losses.
Gabriel Ober got the nod at 128, while Boris Volynsky-Krug is the top seed at 134. Volynsky-Krug is ranked No. 11 in the section at 134. He wrestled up a weight early in the season, but settled in his current class, winning the consolation final at the Overfelt tournament by going 4-1, winning his last three in a row.
Jamil Droubi earned the No. 1 seed at 140, while Caleb Manchester was tabbed at 147. Donovan Farnsworth got the nod at 154, who shined at two weight classes this season. While wrestling at 162, he captured the HMB Peninsula Invitational, was third at the Fremont-Sunnyvale invitational and fifth at the Aptos tournament. Wrestling at his natural weight of 154, he was second at the Jim Root, went 2-2 at Mid Cals and was fifth at Overfelt.
Marcos Bautista, No. 1 at 162, may be the class of the HMB squad. He’s ranked No. 3 in CCS and has earned honorable mention status at the state level. He wrestled up most of the season, but came back down to 160 to go 2-2 at Mid Cals and taking third at Overfelt. Diego Davisson fronts the 172-pound division for the Cougars, PJ Modena is No. 1 at 184 and Nicolas Mandujano leads the 197-pound division. Mandujano is ranked No. 8 in CCS, finishing fourth at the El Camino invitational last week.
Here’s a look at the brackets:
108
San Mateo's Tim Tulloch Jr. is the top seed in this bracket.
115
Evan Leong of Terra Nova, is an honorable mention selection at 122, but is the No. 3 seed at 115 for PALs.
122
Aiden Jacob Lacap, the No. 4 seed from El Camino, has been a busy guy this season, appearing in six tournaments, amassing a record of 14-13 while splitting time between 122 and 128. He’s ranked No. 13 in CCS at 122.
128
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HMB’s Ober may be seeded first, but El Camino’s Brendan Meneses, who is seeded No. 5, is ranked No. 7 in the section at 128. Adding to the strength of the bracket is Terra Nova’s Rylan Anderson, the No. 4 seed who is ranked No. 17 at 132.
134
David Khalilov of M-A, the No. 7 seed, is an honorable mention at 134 in CCS.
140
This may be the most competitive bracket of the meet. Anders Voss, the No. 4 seed, is ranked No. 17 in CCS, while Carlos Pineda of Burlingame, the No. 9 seed, is ranked 13th.
147
Capuchino’s Josh Aguilar, the No. 5 seed, is ranked No. 16 in the section in the same weight class. Louis Bruening of Burlingame, the No. 8 seed, is ranked 20th in CCS.
154
Another strong bracket. In addition to Farnsworth, Luke Peasley of Carlmont, seeded No. 8, is ranked No. 4 in the section and is an honorable mention at the state level. He has top-5 finishes in five tournaments this season, including a third at Overfelt. Also in this bracket is M-A’s Eli Barasch, who is ranked No. 17 in CCS.
162
Thomas Venezia of Hillsdale is an honorable mention at this weight, finishing fourth at the Jim Root Classic, going 2-2.
172
M-A’s Mateo Sanchez Delope, who is seeded 10th, is ranked No. 9 by CCSrank.com in the division. He went 3-2 at Mid Cals.
184
Matthew Philbin of M-A, is the No. 2 seed and ranked No. 15 in CCS. Oceana’s Joao Villazon, the No. 3 seed, is ranked No. 14 in the section, finishing third at the season-opening HMB invitational and closing with a fifth at the El Camino invite.
197
Carlmont’s Kevin Jimenez, the No. 4 seed, is ranked No. 10 in the section, finishing the El Camino tournament with a pair of pins.
222
Sequoia’s Abdallah Diyab earned the top seed in this bracket.
287
If this final is anything other than Burlingame’s Xavier Bruening and Terra Nova’s Jack Gillen, there has been a major upset. Breuning, the No. 4 seed, is ranked No. 2 in CCS and No. 17 in the state. Gillen, the top seed, is ranked No. 5 in CCS and is an honorable mention at the state level.
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