Five Warrior wrestlers place at RBV Freshman Invitational

Five members of Fallbrook High School’s wrestling program placed at the RBV Freshman Invitational tournament Dec. 7 and 8 at Rancho Buena Vista High School.

“We placed a lot of people there” said Cristian Vera, who coaches Fallbrook’s freshman and junior varsity teams.

The five Warriors who placed were the only wrestlers Vera took to the tournament. “It’s really tough to place as a team when you don’t carry a full team,” he said.

All five of Fallbrook’s matmen lost their first-round matches. “Everyone had kind of a rocky start,” Vera said.

Four of the Fallbrook grapplers had made their high school debuts Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at the Vista Frosh-Soph Dual tournament; the only Warrior to begin his high school career at the RBV Freshman Invitational was Caleb Munoz. “From my knowledge he has never played any other sports than this,” Vera said.

Munoz’s first competitive tournament resulted in a third-place finish in the 138-pound division.

Drew Backe had a 4-4 record at the Vista tournament but did not place, so his third-place result in the 195-pound bracket at Rancho Buena Vista was his first high school placing. “That was a big deal for him and for me,” Vera said.

Gauge Musso placed third in the 132-pound weight class. “He came back from that first loss and he won every match after that,” Vera said.

The only Warrior wrestler to place both at the Vista and the RBV tournaments was Shane Davis, who won the 126-pound class at Vista while finishing fourth at RBV. “He had a bit of a rocky start, so it kept him out of the finals,” Vera said.

Mark MacDermot finished fourth in the 120-pound bracket. “It was just impressive to me to see him get fourth place,” Vera said.