It could have been a season of transition for the Trabuco Hills wrestling team, but all of the work in the offseason has the new faces fitting in nicely this season.
The Mustangs, ranked fifth in the county, turned in another solid weekend of work, winning the Andrew Pena Classic at Irvine High on Saturday.
Trabuco Hills had 10 medalists, including champions Justin Sarabia (120), Josh Wharton (152) and Chris Murray (195).
“We’re young, we have a bunch of freshmen, sophomores and juniors in the lineup and we’re going to adjust and we’re going to work and get over the hump,” Trabuco Hills assistant coach Fernando Serratos said.
“The offseason was busy with a lot of wrestling, a lot of development and making them understand of what it takes to continue the tradition.”
Sarabia, a freshman, won two matches by fall in his road to his title.
Wharton, a senior, won four matches by fall and then defeated Jason Mares of Loara, 4-0, in the final.
“In the finals match, I could have pushed the pace a little bit more,” Wharton said. “Other than that, I thought I did great.”
As a senior, Wharton, who is ranked second in the county at 152 pounds, said he’s looking forward to helping lead this year’s team.
“The seniors from last year, really motivated me to get better,” he said. “They were great leaders. We have great team chemistry and we’re working hard in the room and going at it every day.”
Wyatt Duncan (106), Matt Roxas (126), Jason Sarabia (160) and Lukas Howa (170) were all finalists at their respective weights for the Mustangs.
University’s John Farah was selected Upper Weight MVP. Farah, who is the third-ranked heavyweight in the county, won all four of his matches by fall.
Pedro Leon (Saddleback, 132), Dickie Brown (Los Alamitos, 160), Armon Fayyazi (Irvine, 170) and Steven Ahumada (Loara, 220) were the other county individual champions.
Irvine, Los Alamitos and Loara, finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
At the Clovis West Shootout:
Servite finished second to the state’s top-ranked team, Clovis. Clovis had 296.5 points and the Friars had 204.5
The Friars had 12 individual medalists (five in fourth, five in fifth, a third-place and a runner-up).
Noah Blakley-Beanes finished second at 132 pounds.
Servite began the second day tied for first place.
“We didn’t have a good semifinal round,” Servite coach Alan Clinton said. “We lost too many one-point matches, but it was good for us to go against this level of competiton.
Fountain Valley (three medalists) and Calvary Chapel (four medalists), finished 10th and 12th, respectively.
Andrew Morgan (Fountain Valley) was second at 182 pounds.
At the Edison Beach Bash:
Noah Fiegener (145) and Mike Marshall (182) were individual champions helping San Clemente to a sixth-place finish. Kyle Marshall finished second at 160 at Edison High.
Estancia’s Jared Salinas (126) was the other county individual champion.
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com
