San Jose
– The T-shirt that injured 2006 heavyweight champion Genaro
Redmond of Sobrato wore to the Central Coast Section meet Saturday
at Overfelt High School said it all.
San Jose – The T-shirt that injured 2006 heavyweight champion Genaro Redmond of Sobrato wore to the Central Coast Section meet Saturday at Overfelt High School said it all.
“The tradition starts with 2005-06.”
Mike Duran wasn’t part of that tradition because he wasn’t a Sobrato student. And yet in his one year for the Bulldogs he continued that tradition.
Duran, a senior, dominated the 114-pound division in capturing the title and qualifying for the CIF state tournament at Bakersfield this weekend. Duran was so dominant that after opening with a second-period pin, he posted four straight technical falls during which time he outscored those opponents 66-4.
In fact, his 15-0 win over Watsonville’s Rey Mendoza in the finals was a vast improvement over the time when they faced each other earlier in the season. Duran won that bout 5-4.
“He came to wrestle,” Sobrato coach Phil Luna. “He wanted to show his dominance and he did. He wrestled like he wanted to pound his opponents.”
With Redmond unable to defend his title after suffering a torn ACL, MCL and meniscus last week in the Blossom Valley Athletic League meet, and with Moses Guillardo bowing out after a semifinal run at 127, the Bulldogs burden was on the senior Duran.
And he didn’t disappoint in qualifying for his first state tournament.
“My goal for the whole tournament was to score, score and not let these guys breathe,” Duran said. “I think I could have had more pins. I was happy to get the work. Now it’s a matter of training hard, staying conditioned and keeping my weight down. I will go looking for a state medal.”
The No. 1-seeded Duran may have only been around one year, but he was feeling for his fallen teammate.
“I was all alone out there, but I was planning on going to state” Duran said. “I feel bad for Genaro. Moses did real well. I feel he lost confidence after his first loss.”
Guillardo started off by winning three straight matches before getting pinned by top-seeded Boris Navachkov with four seconds left in their semifinal bout. Guillardo finished sixth, losing his fifth-place match to Watsonville’s Emmanuel Lanuza, who he beat in the quarterfinals.
It continued a disturbing trend for the Bulldog seniors, who wrestled Lanuza six times in three tournaments this season, winning the first match and losing the second.
At least he was able to get on the mat. Redmond shrugged when asked about his misfortune.
“Stuff happens,” Redmond said. “I figure there’s a plan for everybody.”
Redmond was in a close match in the BVAL final with Rafael Sanchez of James Lick when he was injured. Sanchez nabbed the No. 1 seed in CCS at 287. He made it to the semifinals before being edged by Oak Grove’s Joey Nigos 7-6. Nigos wound up winning and Sanchez finished third.
Sobrato finished 17th in the team competition with 61 points. Victor Gillespie made it to the quarterfinals at 173 before being pinned by Andrew Guttas of Serra, who finished second to three-time champion Hunter Collins. Gillespie also won a consolation match. With the points Redmond would have likely accumulated, the Bulldogs almost certainly would have finished in the top 10.
Nevertheless, the tradition continues with Duran.
Live Oak ends season
Three Live Oak wrestlers were matched up against No. 2 seeds in the first round of the CCS Tournament at Independence and lost.
Freshman Steven Fernandez was pinned by 132-pound champion Dane Stevens of Scotts Valley in 1:32; senior Brett Jones lost by fall to 162-pounder Max Panziera of Palma in 2:21; and senior Myloe Esquival had a first-round bye and then was pinned by 173-pound runner-up Andrew Guttas of Serra in 3:13. Also, senior Tom Method of Live Oak lost 5-1 to Semisi Hoko of Los Altos in the first round of the 287-pound class.
