Villa Park's Trujillo sits atop stacked class

FOUNTAIN VALLEY – After finishing off his match in the third round, Villa Park's heavyweight David Trujillo grabbed a seat to catch a view of the competition.

The opposition was impressive.

Trujillo is the top-ranked heavyweight at this year's Five Counties Invitational that began Friday at Fountain Valley High.

"The weight class is pretty tough," Trujillo said. "I thought since there was another tournament going on (Temecula Valley) that there would be a drop off, but there is still some pretty good talent here."

Trujillo had a first-round bye and then closed the first day with a pair of falls to advance to the quarterfinals today at 9 a.m.

When the tournament resumes today, the quarterfinals and fifth round of consolation will start things off.

Trujillo, who also is the top-ranked wrestler in the county and ranked eighth in the state, will begin the day against Los Alamitos' Alex Redmond.

Redmond is ranked fifth in the county. After a first-round bye, he also won both of his matches by fall.

At the bottom of the bracket is Carl Hulick (Esperanza). Hulick, the second seed in the tournament, won all three of his matches by fall.

Brendan Johnson (Servite) and Allan Gonzalez (Magnolia) also have advanced to the championship quarterfinals at heavyweight. Gonzalez upset fifth-seeded Nick Auxier of Northview, 5-3 in overtime, in the third round.

"I have to take things one match at a time," Trujillo said.

Hulick finished fifth at last year's tournament and Trujillo was eighth.

This was the first year that the tournament used the double-elimination format instead of the quarter-carry system.

The championship semifinals are scheduled to begin at noon. The finals are set for 5:30 p.m.

Northview of Covina leads the tournament after the first day with 92.5 points. Santa Ana was the highest county team with 73 points in fourth place. Villa Park was in fifth with 71.5.

Top-seeded Micah Macias (Sonora, 171) and Paul Yoo (Cypress, 182) both went undefeated to advance to the quarterfinals.

Yoo, who is ranked second in the state, won all three of his matches by fall.

In all, there are 28 county wrestlers in the championship quarterfinals and 41 alive in the consolation bracket.

County wrestlers alive in championship quarterfinals:
106 – Martin Garcia (Laguna Hills)

113 – Johnny Sanchez (Santa Ana); Christian Hauser (Capistrano Valley); Alexis Vargas (Santa Ana B)

120 – Matt Nader (Canyon)

126 – Josue Hernandez (Santa Ana); Chance Craig (Aliso Niguel)

132 – John Castellini (San Clemente)

138 – Ian Michinock (Aliso Niguel)

145 – Jorge Gutierrez (Santa Ana)

152 – Matt Brislawn (Villa Park); Colin Navickas (Marina); Joe Applegate (Laguna Hills)

160 – Jason Newcomer (Laguna Hills)

171 – Micah Macias (Sonora); Greg Meline (Edison); Phillip O’Shea (Capistrano Valley

182 – Paul Yoo (Cypress); Mason Kumashiro (Los Alamitos)

195 – Steven Pappas (El Modena); Juan Hernandez (Capistrano Valley)

220 – Ryan Perranoski (Villa Park); Dalton Du’Casse (Dana Hills)

285 – David Trujillo (Villa Park); Alex Redmond (Los Alamitos); Allan Gonzalez (Magnolia); Brendan Johnson (Servite); Carl Hulick (Esperanza)

County wrestlers alive in consolation bracket
106 – Sammy Sanchez (Santa Ana); Randy Howe (Los Alamitos); Nick Vega (Villa Park); Nam Tran (Irvine)

113 – Jacob Sandoval (San Clemente); Edgar De La Torre (Fountain Valley); Jake Langenwalter (Valencia); Luis Ortiz (Magnolia)

120 – Jacob Rosales (La Habra); Qi Gao (Woodbridge); Dominic Gambino (Servite); Kef Weltner (Tesoro)

126 – Luke Gonzalez (Esperanza); Tim Parten (San Clemente); Nick Ozima (Brea Olinda)

132 – Jordan Lyle (Edison); Cody Smith (Santa Margarita); Cole Willison (Brea Olinda)

138 – Andre Morgan (Fountain Valley B); Rene Sandoval (Los Alamitos); Chris Lopez (San Clemente); Ronnie Collister (Canyon); Christian Pham (Westminster)

145 – Vince Crisostomo (Westminster); Timmy Henry (Servite)

152 – Max Kumashiro (Los Alamitos); Drake Moye (Aliso Niguel)

160 – Anthony Edery (Villa Park)

171 – Ryan Walker (Villa Park); Jon Hernandez (Santa Ana); Amir Hotak (Fountain Valley); Auggie Oropeza (Brea Olinda)

182 – Spencer Theissen (Villa Park); Johnny Beltran (Servite); Garrett Parsons (Santa Margarita)

195 – Pedro Castillo (Magnolia); Nate Johnson (Cypress)

220 – Anthony Farias (Santa Ana); Victor Mendoza (Capistrano Valley)

285 – Alejan Ruelas (Westminster); Lucas Whetsel (Sonora)

Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com