The 2018 Valley Classic results for John Mall
by David Tesitor
CENTER — The John Mall Panthers considered the Valley Classic in Center a warm-up for their upcoming regional tournament which begins next weekend. Many Panthers will face the same athletes on the mats once again, hoping to make the top four and their chance for a berth at the state tournament next weekend.
As a team, John Mall finished in seventh place with 93 points, well below Center which ran away with the tournament with 188 points. Six of nine Panthers placed in the tournament.
Dale ‘DJ’ Van Matre placed third at 106 pounds. Van Matre was ranked ninth in the ‘On the Mat’ ranking but fell out because of several losses over the past three weeks. Van Matre (14-19) drew a first round bye then faced Max Salazar (Sanford) 19-4, the number six ranked wrestler in the state. Salazar won by a technical fall at the 4:54 mark by the score of 15-0. DJ won his next three consolation matches before he faced Zack Ruiz of Rye (17-5) who is ranked ninth in the state, winning a 6-1 decision. Van Matre will meet those same two opponents next weekend in his bid for state.
At 113 pounds, Travis Vialpando (19-16) placed fourth. He lost his opening bout but came roaring back, winning his next four matches, all by pin, including against three opponents he will likely face at regionals, Isaiah Camacho (Crowley County) 2-16 in 1:47; Salvador Vigil (Mountain Valley) in .56 seconds; Bryton Burkhart (Sargent) in 2:00; and Fernando Salazar (Fowler) 22-15 in 2:01. Vialpando forfeited the third place match because of the five match rule. Vialpando had the most pins in the least amount of time for the tournament: four pins in 6:44 minutes.
Ricardo Bobian (6-17) placed fourth at 120 pounds. This was a round-robin bracket with Bobian winning three of his five matches. Two of his losses were at the hands of Caleb Rabon of Sargent , both by pin fall at the 1:51 and 1:55 marks. Bobian pinned Ethan Gerig (Rye) in 30 seconds and won a 14-3 major decision over Cutler Hampton (Fowler). Bobian will face the same opponents next weekend.
Wesley Van Matre (17-3), at 132 pounds, lost his third match of the season and placed second when he lost his championship match to Anthony Quintana of Buena Vista (28-0) by a 5-1 decision. Quintana is ranked #1 in 3A. In his early matches Van Matre won by fall over Jesus Vasquez (Monte Vista) 7-13 in 1:51 and by fall over Luis Soto (Del Norte) in 34 seconds. He will face these two at regionals. In the semifinals, Van Matre won a tech fall over Traycer Hall (Hotchkiss) at the 5:53 mark.
Anthony Aldretti (28-10) at 138 pounds placed fourth. In the opening round Aldretti won by fall over Timothy Paiz of Center in 18 seconds, the fastest pin in the tournament. For his quarterfinal, Aldretti won a 13-6 decision over Ray Perez (Custer County). These two will meet againnext weekend. For the semifinals, Aldretti lost a sudden victory decision 10-8 to Jaden Harris of Crowley County. In the consolation semifinal, Aldretti won by fall over Zach Sandoval (Centauri) in 4:35. For the third place match, Atha (Buena Vista) won by fall in 1:56
Trystan Estrada (20-10) placed sixth at 152 pounds. Estrada lost his quarterfinal match to Jace Peebles by pin in 3:28 sending him into the consolation bracket where he won his next two matches. The first win was by tech fall over Jonathan Jerome of Soroco by a score of 17-1 and the second a 17-7 major decision over Levi Trujillo of Monte Vista. Estrada then lost his next two matches.
The final Panther to place was Nick Griego (11-13) at 160 pounds. Griego placed sixth. Griego pinned Thomas Goeritz of Fowler in 3:15 but lost to Adam Schultz (Crowley County) by a by major decision 15-2 in the semifinals, sending Griego to the consolation semifinal round where Jesse Burns of Paonia won by fall over Griego in 3:20. Griego lost his battle for fifth after losing a 5-1 decision over Trent Marino of Merino.
Miguel Sanchez (13-17), Caleb Rehm (7-17) and AJ Sandoval (6-13) also competed. Sanchez and Rehm went 0-2 for the day while Sandoval won his preliminary match over Charles Balderas of Merino by pin in 4:43.
