PETALUMA – It was an exciting day of action at the annual Sonoma County League Wrestling Championships hosted by Petaluma High School on Saturday, with nearly eight hours of competition deciding the team title and individual champions in 14 weight classes.
The objective for all participants was a top-three finish in their respective weight division, good for advancement to the North Coast Section Championships to be held on Feb. 26-27 at James Logan High School in Union City. A top-three finish at NCS will earn wrestlers a spot at the prestigious CIF State Championships in Bakersfield on Mar. 4-5. Â
In all, the Analy and El Molino teams combined to qualify 15 athletes to NCS on Saturday, a collective performance that was among the best in years. Â
League champion Healdsburg completed an unbeaten league season to finish first with a tournament best 221.5 points, followed by Petaluma (181), Analy (150), El Molino (123.5), Piner (118), Sonoma Valley (102) and Elsie Allen (34).
El Molino sent six wrestlers to the finals, while the Tigers had five athletes vying for league titles. Bringing home individual league titles for Analy were 108-pound sophomore Trevor Bagan and El Molino 142-pound senior Sam MacDonell.
Second-place medalists included Analy’s 115-pound Dalton Gavriloff, 128-pound Austin Henry, 134-pound Ben Talcott and 140-pound Yogi Bazzano, and El Molino’s 147-pound Eddie Lopez, 162-pound Josh Wright, 172-pound Christian Ohlin, 197-pound Leo Garza and heavyweight Travis Adams.
Also turning in NCS qualifying performances were Analy’s 122-pound Jackson Jones (3rd place), 197-pound Alex Perriera and 222-pound Ariel Merhav. Taking third place for El Mo was 154-pound Sire Clark.
Analy’s 184-pounder Elan Seabourne took fourth place and is an NCS alternate.
JV wrestlers
take medals
West County JV athletes also claimed their share of hardware on Saturday, with several wrestlers taking home top-four medals.
Analy medalists included 122-pound Jimmy Carreras (3rd place), 128-pound Kim Juarez-Rico, 134-pound Gigi Abramson (4th place) and 197-pound Theo Kolybakos (1st place). Garnering a JV medal for the Lions was 162-pound Alexis Diaz-Pena (4th place).
