Brown third at JV County Championships meet

Alex Brown placed third in his weight division at the Junior Varisty County Championships wrestling meet Feb. 8 at Mount Carmel High School, and three other Fallbrook grapplers placed among the top eight in their weight classes.

“I’m very proud of all these kids,” Fallbrook head coach Cristian Vera said.

Fallbrook had five competitors at the JV County Championships. Two of the Warriors’ junior varsity wrestlers were ill that day and one other was participating in the Skills USA industrial arts competition.

“Four of the five did, in my opinion, exceptionally well,” Vera said.

The tournament had a double-elimination format after the first round, but any wrestler who lost in the first round was not able to compete in a subsequent match. A wrestler can compete in the weight class immediately above what he scales but cannot compete in a lower weight bracket and since the Warriors had two wrestlers who scaled for the 120-pound bracket Vera moved 119-pound sophomore Zane Greene to the 126-pound division.

“He was definitely a little undersized for the weight class,” Vera said.

Greene lost in the first round but by decision rather than by pin.

The Junior Varsity County Championships gave medals to the top six in each weight class, so the three Fallbrook wrestlers who placed in the top eight all lost in the round whose winner was assured of a medal. Marco Arias Jr. competed in the 120-pound bracket, Nik Allen was Fallbrook’s 145-pound wrestler and Brian Greenwood was the Warriors’ 152-pound representative. All are sophomores.

Brown is also a sophomore. He wrestled at 113 pounds, Feb. 8.

“He had a pretty dominant run up until the semifinal match,” Vera said.

In the semifinal match Brown’s Poway High School counterpart won a 14-2 major decision.

“He did everything that he could,” Vera said of Brown.

Brown won the third-place match.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].