Terra Nova's Varsity Wrestlers Shine in Watsonville

Terra Nova’s varsity wrestlers participated in the Apple Cider Classic Individual Tournament at Watsonville High School on January 10. The Tigers brought 8 men to compete out of a possible 14 for a varsity squad, and even though they were outnumbered, Terra Nova finished 8th in a field of 41 teams, the highest finish of any PAL team at the tournament.

Rodrigo Huazano, a 154lb junior, won his first-ever varsity match this weekend. Jared Abellera, 134 lb freshman, had unfortunate pairings in the opening rounds. Jared lost his first match to Ken Vu from Irvington, who went on to win the title in that weight class, and Jared lost his second match to Ethan Biral from Pioneer, who won the consolation bracket. Jeremy Watts, 197lb junior, made his first varsity pin in the first match of the day before falling to Nate Gokin from Sonora, who ended the day with a 4th place medal. Jeremy won his next match 7-2 against Antonio Gomez from Christopher High in Gilroy, but he lost his last match to Joseph Morales from Soledad.

Whilet he newcomers to varsity level competition had mixed results, the returning members of the Tiger varsity team came home with medals. Ryan McGannon, 147lb senior, started the day off by pinning his first two opponents, Robert Cook from Carmel in 2:21 and Austin Wu from Monte Vista Christian in an astonishing 21 seconds. His first loss of the day came against Jed Kraft from San Lorenzo Valley, CCS ranked 8. The final score was 4-5. Kraft went on to place 2nd at the tournament. McGannon’s next match against Angel Carabajal from Gilroy was a nail-biter. The two traded points in the third round. McGannon came from behind to take the lead by 8-6 in the last 10 seconds, when Carabajal reversed him and scored 2 near fall points right before the buzzer. The final score was 8-10. McGannon was slated to wrestle for 5th place against Wu again, but because Wu had already wrestled the state limit of 5 matches that day, the match could not take place. McGannon finished with a 5th place medal.

Fellow senior Leo Grabowski, CCS rank 6 at 184 lb, also won his first 2 matches with pins against DJ Monroe of Westmont High in 1:03 and Daniel Redeker of Irvington in 49 seconds. Grabowski faced Alejandro Mosqueda of Watsonville, CCS rank 8 at 195 lbs, in the semifinals. Grabowski won 9-6 to advance to the final round against Doug Peyser of Scotts Valley, CCS rank 3 at 170lbs. Peyser won the match, and Grabowski took 2nd.

Terra Nova’s smallest wrestlers turned in the biggest performances of the day. Senior Justin Pesino, CCS rank 5 at 115lbs, won his first two matches on points defeating Roberto Ortiz of Everett Alvarez 5-4 and Andres Guzman of Westmont 9-8. Pesino won his semifinal round against Tristan Keller of Half Moon Bay handily with a score of 9-2. Pesino faced Jimmy Yumen, CCS rank 2 at 108lbs, in the final round, but he was not able to prevail despite his intense efforts in the 3rd round where he fell short by one point (2-3). Pesino also took 2nd.

Sophomore Danny Borrego, CCS rank 6 at 108lbs, had an outstanding day. He pinned his first opponent, Jake Bornstein from Monte Vista Christian in 2:50 and advanced to the semifinals where he also defeated Andres Guzman from Westmont 4-1. In the final round, Borrego faced Enrique Zavala from Alisal. The match was a chess game with tentative shots and ground scrambling that entered the 3rd period with a score of 0-0. Borrego was able to choose his starting position for the 3rd round, and he wisely chose bottom, where a wrestler can score a point by breaking free from the top wrestler – which is exactly what he did. Zavala was unable to hold him down, and Borrego scored the only point of the match to take the first place medal and the celebratory bottle of Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider from which the tournament gets its name.