ORANGE – The first day of the Mann Classic went according to plan for Capistrano Valley senior Michael Davis.
Davis, the fifth seed at 132 pounds, went 3 for 3 Friday, winning all of his matches by fall to book himself a spot in today’s quarterfinals at Santiago Canyon College.
Wrestling resumes today at 10 a.m.
“I wanted to be aggressive,” he said. “I looked to just focus on what I’m doing and not worry about where I am or who I’m wrestling.”
Davis opened the tournament with fall in 3:28.
“First period I got him on his back a couple of times,” he said. “Second period, we started neutral, I took him down and put him to his back.”
Davis’ teammates Brandon Hernandez (120), Corey Shackelford (182) and Phillip O’Shea (195) also advanced to the quarterfinals.
After a difficult season a year ago, the Cougars are headed in the right direction.
“We had our ups and downs,” Davis said. “We focused on the offseason and came out fighting this year.”
Nick Kuchta (El Modena, 126) and Blake Vasquez (Fountain Valley, 152) also won their first three matches by fall.
Phillip Zamora (Laguna Hills, 132) won two matches by fall and another by technical fall. Mater Dei’s Trevor Perez (152) won two matches by technical fall and one by fall.
Gil Gutierrez (Calvary Chapel, 132), Jared Furey (Orange Lutheran, 138), James Oliveros (Laguna Hills, 145) and Mater Dei’s Luke Walsh (145) also went 3-0 on the first day.
Servite had the first-day lead in the team standings with 110 points. Laguna Hills was second with 97.5 points.
El Modena (84), Fountain Valley (78) and Calvary Chapel (76) ended the day in the top six.
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com
