Warrior Wrestlers have success at Mission Hills Tournament

Five Fallbrook High School wrestlers who spent Jan. 6 at the Mission Hills Tournament reached the round in which the winner would receive a medal.

"I couldn't have asked for the tournament to go any better than it did," said Fallbrook coach Christian Vera. "As a whole we did outstanding. Across the board everyone wrestled very well."

The Mission Hills Tournament allows a school to enter multiple grapplers in the same weight class although only one of those is designated to be scored. Fallbrook took a total of 14 wrestlers, but the Warriors were represented in only seven weight divisions.

"We just got a bunch of guys that we thought deserved to go to the tournament," Vera said.

Fallbrook still finished tenth as a team. "To be able to do that with so few scoring wrestlers was very impressive," Vera said.

Six wrestlers in each weight bracket received medals, so a victory in the championship semifinals or consolation quarterfinals was necessary to advance to matches which determined positions. Although only one Fallbrook competitor obtained a medal, four others reached the consolation quarterfinals whose winner would next wrestle in a medal round.

"We had quite a few guys make it very deep into the tournament," Vera said.

Lance McNatt had Fallbrook's highest finish. He lost in the 152-pound semifinals before winning the consolation matches for third place. McNatt began competition with a 16-1 technical fall decision against Phanxico Hoang of Scripps Ranch and then pinned Donovan Piro of Mission Hills in the third round.

The semifinal match between McNatt and Christian Cruz of Valley Center ended as a 10-7 decision victory for Cruz, but in the consolation bracket McNatt salvaged third place with a 6-0 decision against Jesus Padilla of Central Union and a 9-2 decision against John Clayton of Army-Navy.

Kaleb Beckmann reached the consolation quarterfinals in the 220-pound class. Beckmann began the tournament with a first-round pin of Army-Navy's Larry Wu and a second-round pin of Del Norte's Tristan Henderson.

In his semifinal Beckmann was pinned by Poway's Javier Espinoza, who eventually won the championship, and in Beckmann's only consolation bracket match Josh Mitchell of Helix prevailed by a 3-0 decision.

Fallbrook's other 220-pound wrestler, John Eastom, was a match away from the consolation quarterfinals. Eastom pinned Cody Brockington of Del Norte but then lost a 16-5 decision to Andrew Villagomez of Montgomery before losing to Mitchell in a consolation match.

Dylan Livingston was in the 145-pound consolation quarterfinals. He began the tournament by pinning Shankar Torres of Canyon Crest in the third round, but Livingston was then pinned by eventual fourth-place finisher Miles Bryant of Serra. Livingston's first consolation bracket match was a 10-2 decision victory over Joel Davis of Mount Miguel, and Livingston then pinned Spenser Pira of Guajome Park in the second period. Adam Zavala of Central Union won an 8-2 decision against Livingston in the consolation quarterfinals.

Matthew Kendall won two matches and lost two in the 145-pound bracket. He pinned Davis in the third period but was then pinned by Matthew McCauley of Valley Center.

That sent Kendall to the consolation bracket where he defeated Torres when the Canyon Crest wrestler was disqualified in the third period. Kendall was then pinned by Jonathan Diaz of Valley Center.

Enrique Volquardsen advanced to the consolation quarterfinals in the 160-pound division. He pinned Steele Canyon's Robert Weber in the first round but was pinned by eventual champion Craig Smith of Mount Miguel in the second round of the next match. Volquardsen pinned Tanner Johnson of Valley Center in the third round of Volquardsen's initial consolation match, but in the consolation quarterfinals Truman Irion of Escondido pinned Volquardsen in the second round.

Gavin Beckmann reached the consolation quarterfinals of the 285-pound class. His first match was a loss by the second-round pin of Serra's Ansel Figueroa, but in the consolation bracket Beckmann pinned Oscar Morales of El Camino in the third period. Beckmann was then on the falling end of a third-round pin by Escondido's Nic Nava.

Marco Alejandre won two matches and lost two in the 132-pound division. He opened the tournament with a 16-7 major decision victory against Matthew Hollaway of Del Norte but was then pinned by eventual champion Zeke Stoddard of Poway. In Alejandre's first consolation bracket match he pinned Steele Canyon's Brandon Pagen in the second round. Alejandre was then pinned by Efrain Guzman of Mission Hills.

Uriel Juarez was Fallbrook's 126-pound representative. After winning an 8-0 major decision against Miguel Ayala of Mount Miguel he faced the division's No. 1 seed, Escondido's Julian Rodriguez, in the quarterfinals and lost by a 10-1 major decision.

"Holding off the number one seed from pinning you is very impressive," Vera said.

In his consolation match Juarez lost a 10-9 decision to Christian Korbacher of El Camino.

"All the guys did awesome," said Vera. "I couldn't ask for more. We had so many young guys step up and be able to perform at a high level. The future bodes well for these guys."