BAKERSFIELD – There isn’t anything easy at the CIF State Wrestling Tournament, but for Calvary Chapel coach Sal Garcia, he likes where his two remaining wrestlers are standing after the first day of competition.
Third-seeded Luciano Arroyo recorded three decisions Friday at Rabobank Arena to advance to the 120-pound division semifinals. He is the only county wrestler to make it to the semifinals.
Arroyo, who finished second last week at the CIF-SS Masters Meet, will have a chance to avenge his loss in the Masters final when he faces Temescal Canyon’s Cleveland Belton today in the semifinals.
“He’s been here before,” Garcia said. “This year there’s a little bit more pressure because he’s a returning state placer.
“I think he might have put a little bit more pressure on himself, but he got through it today. He seemed to open up a little bit in that last match.”
Belton won last week’s final against Arroyo, 5-1.
“It is going to be another close match,” Garcia said. “I think he’ll be prepared. As long as he comes out and wrestles the way we know he can wrestle, we feel he’s the better wrestler.”
The championship semifinal round begins at 10:30 a.m.
Arroyo’s workout partner, Elijah Palacio, began the tournament as the 10th seed at 120 and went 3-0 before losing to the Robert Garcia of Selma, 4-3 in the quarterfinals.
“I thought he wrestled really well,” Garcia said of Palacio. “I think he’s good enough to wrestle with anybody, even at the 126 weight class.”
Palacio will begin the second day in the fifth round of consolation, needing just one victory to claim a spot in the top eight in a tough weight class.
Quarterfinal losers will only need to win their first match today to guarantee a spot in the top eight.
Fourth-seeded Aaron Nagao of Esperanza lost his quarterfinals match to fifth-seed Cole Reyes of Frontier. Nagao will begin the second day in the consolation bracket.
“Ultimately, I think it is just going to be learning lesson for him in this sport,” Esperanza coach Joshua Holiday said. “We know he’s disappointed, but we’ll watch the tape and figure out what happened.
“He’ll face the adversity right now and we’re going to see what he’s made of, but we believe in him. We believe that he’s going to come back and get third. The kid has ice water in his veins. We were shocked (at the loss), I’m not going to lie.”
Capistrano Valley’s Gerardo Hernandez (182) was also unsuccessful in his attempt to lock down a spot in the top eight, losing his quarterfinal match. Hernandez dropped a 7-5 decision to third-seeded Sam Loera of Bakersfield.
San Clemente’s Kyle Marshall (195) and Santa Ana’s Joey Daniel (220) also lost their quarterfinal matches.
The tournament resumes today the fourth round of consolation at 9 a.m. Winners in that round will have to win twice to guarantee themselves a spot in the top eight of their weights.
That list includes: Trabuco Hills’ Trey Munoz (126), Esperanza’s Josh Brown (132), Laguna Hills’ Anthony Le (138), Servite’s Troy Madrigal (152), Aliso Niguel’s Sam Azar (160), Canyon’s Jared Fernandez (182) and Los Alamitos’ Ethan Bakker (220).
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@scng.com
