Solid showing at CCS regionals

Now, the CCS championships are broken up into two regionals — the north and south. The top eight boys from both regionals advance to the CCS Masters Final.

And in the Northern Regional, Serra dominated. Not only are the Padres sending 10 wrestlers to the finals Saturday, and two more as alternates, they had three — Ryder Doleschal (106), Preston Dixon (215), who fell just short of a CCS title last season, and Trevor Wilson (285) — all take first place in their respective divisions.

Additionally, Sebastian Garcia (144) and Elliott Schnelker (165) each finished second.

“I was pleasantly surprised to have five in the finals,” said Serra head coach Mike Klobuchar. “All the hard work we put in is paying off.”

Dominic Andrini (8th, 126), Frankie Pineda (8th, 132), Patrick Turk (4th, 138), Leon Bleess (6th, 157) and Luke Hanna (4th, 175) all advanced to the semifinals.

The top eight in each weight division qualified for the CCS Masters Final.

Serra’s success is no accident. Klobuchar thought this year’s team, despite having two freshmen and three sophomores in the starting lineup, is as dedicated to the sport as they come. For the last several summers, Klobuchar has taken the Serra team to a college camp. Last summer, it was the Oregon State Intensive Camp. Additionally, some Padres have taken their own trips to out-of-state camps.

“Sebastian (Garcia) and Leon (Bleess) went to a camp in Ohio,” Klobuchar said. “[Garcia] went to North Carolina for a camp. His dad was a California state placer. He knows all the thing you have to do to get to where you want to go.”

Meanwhile, the Peninsula Athletic League, led by Carlmont, is having success of its own. The PAL saw 15 of 16 teams advance at least one wrestler  — boy or girl — to Saturday’s CCS final. Six of the eight boys’ teams in the Bay Division qualified at least one wrestler. In the Ocean, four of the eight teams advanced athletes.

Additionally, girls from Oceana, South City, Terra Nova and San Mateo also made the cut. The top six girls from the Northern Regional advance, along with the top 10 from the Southern Regional.

“It shows that everybody has a chance,” said Ray Reyes, who is the PAL director of wrestling and an assistant coach at El Camino. “Wrestling is coming back, bouncing back from COVID, numbers wise.”

Ten schools — Burlingame, Capuchino, Carlmont, El Camino, Half Moon Bay, Hillsdale, Menlo-Atherton, Mills, Westmoor and Woodside — had at least one male and one female wrestler advance.

The Scots, who won both the PAL dual meet and tournament championships, are sending a total of six wrestlers, three boys and three girls, to the CCS finals.

Four wrestlers from the PAL took first at the regional, with Terra Nova winning a pair of brackets — Sophie Darer at 110, who is the defending CCS champ at that weight, and Ava Mendoz at 130. Burlingame’s Lauren Aguilar is set to defend her 2024 CCS title by taking first at 120, while El Camino’s Darius DeGuzman-DeAsis was first at 190.

Second-place finishers included: Woodside’s Evyn Ellis at 135; South City’s Khloe Meisenbach at 140; M-A’s Eric Ruiz at 175 and Burlingame’s Andrew Jarrett at 215.

Carlmont’s Gabe Osorio was third at 106, while El Camino’s Michael Schliewe was third at 120. Westmoor’s Abdybekov brothers, Nurmuhammad (144) and Abdulazis (165), qualified fifth and third, respectively.

Reyes said all of those showings can only help the PAL. CCS bases automatic qualifiers from leagues to CCS based on historic success at the CCS tournament. Reyes has been around long to enough to remember when the PAL used to get four automatic berths to CCS, as well as when only those wrestlers who got to the PAL finals got to move on.

“We lost a qualifier, from four to three, but we’d love to take a spot back,” Reyes said. “We’ve been averaging six to eight medals.”

The PAL girls have also seen their automatic qualifiers drop, from a high of five, now down to four as the dominance of the Half Moon Bay, M-A and Terra Nova girls has waned.

Reyes credits the close-knit wrestling community on the Peninsula for helping get the number of wrestlers back up and back in contention at PAL schools. At this time of the year, the cheering turns toward the PAL, as a whole, as opposed to cheering for specific teams.

Reyes said that’s why he, and other coaches, keep tabs on all the other PAL wrestlers at the CCS regional.

“Collectively, we need the PAL to be successful,” Reyes said. “Now we all understand it takes a big community to be good. If El Camino is good, then South City will be good.”

Qualified wrestlers for CCS Masters Final

Boys

106 — Ryder Doleschal (Serra), Niko Selianitis (El Camino), Gabe Osorio (Carlmont)

113 — Michael Lim (Westmoor), Jayden Xie (Mills), Rowan Sheng (Carlmont)

120 — Michael Schliewe (El Camino)

126 — Dominic Andrini (Serra)

132 — Gabe Garcia-Procopio (Half Moon Bay), Frankie Pineda (Serra)

138 — Patrick Turk (Serra), Colin Chung (M-A), Andre Gagnon (Sequoia)

144 — Sebastian Garcia (Serra), Nurmuhammad Abdybekov (Westmoor), Camilo Barberena (Carlmont)

150 — Marco Baisch (Sequoia), Aaron Landin (Half Moon Bay)

157 — James Lundell (Sequoia)

165 — Elliott Schnelker (Serra), Abdulazis Abdybekov (Westmoor), Julian Lee (Burlingame)

175 — Eric Ruiz (M-A), Luke Hanna (Serra)

190 — Darius DeGuzman-DeAsis (El Camino), Troy Roser (Hillsdale)

215 — Preston Dixon (Serra), Andrew Jarrett (Burlingame)

285 — Trevor Wilson (Serra), CArlos Latu (Woodside), Ryan Blunt (Carlmont)

Girls

100 — Angeline Galon (Oceana)

105 — Charlotte McKeithan (M-A), U’iwailani Lobato (Carlmont), Eleni Cosica (El Camino)

110 — Sophie Darer (Terra Nova), Olivia Lewis (Capuchino)

115 — Jeannette Healy (Carlmont), Mariah Lejender (El Camino)

120 — Lauren Aguilar (Burlingame)

125 — Hannah Villareal (San Mateo), Melanie Feng (Mills)

130 — Ava Medoz (Terra Nova), KAtheryne Abramenko (Half Moon Bay)

135 — Evyn Ellis (Woodside), Catalina Kohler (Hillsdale), Nora Scopazzi (Burlingame)

140 — Khloe Meisenbach (South City), Gianna Van Hofwegen (Carlmont)

155 — Rachel Shomaker (San Mateo)

190 — Kelailah Johnson (Mills), Jillian Dedini (Westmoor)