San Marino High School wrestlers who advanced from the first round of the CIF playoffs last week include Koa Ruiz (front row, from left), Santino Sanchez, Ally Arrington and Tilly Garcia. Back: Luka Wick, Raul Jimenez, Ryan Arrington and Devyn Che. The boys are headed to the Masters Tournament, and the girls will compete in the Southern Section finals.
CIF wrestling officials got the marquee matchup they were hoping for, and when it became apparent that San Marino High School junior Luka Wick and Excelsior Charter School senior Jesse Vasquez would meet in the finals of their weight class, the schedule underwent a quick edit.
The final round of matches at tournaments such as last Saturday’s CIF Southern Section Southern Division tournament at Brea Olinda High School typically progress from the lightest weight class through the heaviest, but the notion of a showdown between the state’s two top wrestlers at 145 pounds was too much to resist.
So as nightfall descended upon north Orange County, Wildcat Gymnasium pulsed with energy as Vasquez and Wick took to the center mat with the title on the line.
Fans certainly weren’t disappointed, but Wick would have appreciated a different result as Vasquez scored a reversal with less than a second left on the clock to break a tie and claim the weight class with a 6-4 victory.
The two are expected to meet again this weekend at the CIF Masters Tournament at Sonora High School in La Habra if they can successfully negotiate the preliminary rounds.
Wick’s second-place finish was part of a larger success as the Titans finished a quite respectable third, with the team garnering 175.5 points to wind up behind Villa Park (257) and Esperanza (216) in the Southern Division, where 50 teams competed.
SMHS sophomore Santino Sanchez won the 106-pound class with a 9-2 victory over Ethan Nguyen of Diamond Ranch to get the Titans’ first individual championship.
Fellow sophomore Koa Ruiz pinned Richy Herrera, a senior from Sonora, to win the 126-pound division. Ruiz earned a 17-1 technical fall in the first round and then pinned his way through the remainder of the bracket.
Sophomore Devyn Che wrestled well throughout the tournament and made it to the 132-pound championship match, in which he lost to Esperanza senior Aaron Nagao for a second-place finish.
Sophomore Raul Jimenez finished third at 120 pounds and classmate Ryan Arrington ended up in fourth place in the 182-pound class. So both punched their tickets to Masters, the destination of the top five finishers in each weight class. Titan senior Sean Han finished in eighth place at 113 pounds.
Concurrently, the CIF Girls’ Northern Regional championships were taking place at Camarillo High School and San Marino enjoyed success at that venue as well. Senior Tilly Garcia won each of her matches by pinfall, eventually decking Destiny Belonio of Downey High School to win the 111-pound weight class.
Senior Ally Arrington finished second in the 137-pound class and, like Garcia, advances to the CIF Southern Section finals, which begin on Friday, Feb. 21, at Beaumont High School.
REMATCH LOOMS
Vasquez and Wick met several times at the youth level, but they have since competed in different tournaments and at different weight classes. Wick appeared to take an early lead at last Saturday’s showdown, but it was ruled that his foot was out of bounds as he threw Vasquez to the mat. Vasquez took down Wick with 10 seconds left in the first period to take a 2-0 advantage, but Wick was able to halve the lead with a second-period escape.
Working to control Wick’s legs, Vazquez caught the Titan with a swift takedown at the 1:25 mark of the third and final stanza for a 4-1 lead, but Wick battled back. An escape at 44 seconds and a takedown with 22 seconds remaining tied the match at 4-4. As the match appeared headed to overtime, Vazquez reversed Wick in the final second, the referee’s acknowledgement of the champion’s move coming at the buzzer.
It could all happen again this weekend, though Wick is hoping for a different outcome.
