El Molino girls capture first NBL Redwood Division pennant
It’s down to crunch time for local high school wrestlers, as they put in final preparations for the upcoming postseason tournaments.
Both Analy and El Molino will compete in the North Bay League Championships to be held at Ukiah High School on Feb. 8 and 9, with the top five finishers in each weight class moving on to compete at the North Coast Section meet on Feb. 15 and 16. A top three medal at NCS would mean a trip to the prestigious CIF State Wrestling Championships in Bakersfield.
Last week, an El Molino boys squad depleted by injury, took on Piner in the final league dual meet, with 132-pound Erik Dimond scoring the lone mat win (by 20-4 technical fall) for the Lions as the Prospectors posted a 35-5 win.
The month of January has not been kind to the Lions, whose numbers of healthy wrestlers have been on a steady decline.
“We suffered the loss of 172-pound junior Colman Hayes for the season with a concussion. We were further hampered when Zavier Grech was injured in warm-ups, and we may not have him back for the league tournament,” El Mo coach Ron Wright reported. “The team has at least three others out with the flu that has made a second run through the wrestling room — bad timing for us as a team.”
Lady Lions capture pennant; wrestlers medal at tourney
It was not all gloom and doom for the Lions this week, with the El Mo girls squad completing a 4-0 dual meet season to capture their first NBL Redwood Division pennant.
On Saturday, both El Molino and Analy sent a small contingent to the Redwood Empire Classic Tournament in Ukiah. Leading the charge for the Tigers was 115-pound junior Preston Bagan, who navigated his weight class unscathed to earn a first-place medal. Other Analy competitors included 140-pound Jimmy Carreras (10th place), 128-pound Zach Fogg (1-2) and 152-pound Lorenzo Robles (0-2).
The Lions were represented by three athletes at the Redwood Empire Class, with Erik Dimond (1-2) competing in the varsity bracket, while 120-pound Chance Martin (3-0, first place) and 144-pound Aidan Herman (third place) earned medals in the JV competition.
