Irvine's Chene places first at Masters
TEMECULA - Kyle Chene's senior season didn't have the perfect beginning, but he is positioning himself to have the storybook ending.
Chene, a senior 140-pound wrestler from Irvine, has had to deal with a December knee injury that has caused him to miss half of the season.
“It was very frustrating,” he said. “This was my senior year and I had a chance to break all of Irvine's records, my brother's (Scott) records�all the pin records, but I was out half a season.”
However, things appear to be getting back on track after he placed first in his weight class at the CIF-SS Masters Meet on Saturday at Temecula Valley High.
Chene defeated Matt Hickman of Camarillo, 4-3 in overtime in the finals.
“He's getting better and better as the season comes to a conclusion,” Irvine coach John Phillips said. “The kid is just a competitor and a winner.”
Chene started the second day with a 2-1 overtime victory over Aliso Niguel's Brandon Huxford.
“In both matches, he had to ride the guy for 30 seconds, and that says a lot to have done it two times in a row,” Phillips said.
He returned to practice a week before the Pacific Coast League finals. He then finished second at both the league finals and the CIF-SS Coastal Divisional.
“That did it for me,” he said. “Right there, I said this has to change. �I'm not even peaking yet.”
Chene, who is the first Masters champion for Phillips, is one of 32 county wrestlers to qualify for the state tournament.
The state tournament is March 6-7 at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield.
This is the second year that the Southern Section has advanced the top nine in each weight class to the state tournament.
This year, four county wrestlers survived the ninth-place bracket, Erik Salomon (Loara, 112), Nick Pereira (Los Alamitos, 140), Bryan Barocio (La Habra, 152) and Daniel Wehbe (El Modena, 215).
Salomon was tied in his match with Kenny Mai of North Torrance, 1-1 in the third period. Salomon pulled out the victory thanks to reversal and a three-point near fall late in the period to advance to state.
“I didn't think about the pressure, I just went out and wrestled and pulled the win out and now, I'm going to state,” he said.
Calvary Chapel finished third in the team standings and led all county schools with five state qualifiers, including section champions Tigran Adzhemyan (152) and Morgan McIntosh (171).
McIntosh is making his second consecutive trip to the state tournament along with teammates William Knowles (215) and Taylor Warden (189).
El Modena and Laguna Hills also qualified four for the state tournament.
Mitch Newcomer (135) was the other county individual champion. Newcomer, who is ranked second in the state, defeated Kalin Goodsite of M.L. King of Riverside, 10-5 in the finals.
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com
