By Lilian Nguyen
On Friday, Feb. 10 and Saturday, Feb. 11, Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) hosted the CIF-Southern Section (SS) Individuals Inland Division tournament, taking home first place as a team with a final score of 282 points.
With one more tournament away from state, the wrestlers geared up to give it their all, all vying for places on the podium.
Qualifying matches, quarterfinals and the round of 16 took place on Saturday at 10 a.m. and finished around 5 p.m. while Saturday’s matches for placers began at the same time but ended earlier at around 3 p.m.
Baron’s wrestling stayed undefeated during Friday’s matches with stellar performances by all of the wrestlers.
With thirteen of FVHS’s wrestlers participating, six wrestlers made it to the championship match on Saturday.
Senior TJ Mcdonnell (182 lbs), juniors Ryland Whitworth (195 lbs), Hercules Windrath (138 lbs), Anthony Lucio (113 lbs) and sophomore Khale Mcdonnell (170 lbs) all won first place while senior Dylan Bunbury (285 lbs) took home second.
With 44 schools participating in the CIF-SS Inland Division, FVHS outperformed all of the schools with the most pins as a team in the least amount of time (36 pins in 70:18 minutes), the most total match points (368 points) and had the best winning percentage (56 wins and 15 losses).
All of FVHS wrestlers made strong efforts in their respective matches with points scored by all thirteen participants.
Leading scorers were TJ Mcdonnell, first place medalist at 182 lbs, with 34 points after incredible performances in all five of his matches where he won by falls. In his match for first place, Mcdonnell pinned Jeremy Kanter of Laguna Beach High School (LBHS), dominating him with 0:46 seconds left in the first period.
“I [felt] good about the season [and] I am really excited for the next few tournaments at the end of this postseason. It’s been on my mind since the beginning,” TJ Mcdonnell said.
Similarly, Whitworth, first placer at 195 lbs, helped amass 32 points. He dominated his opponents with four out of his five matches being won by a fall. In his match for first place, however, it was tense as he managed to win by regular decision over Eugenio Franco of Corona Del Mar High School. The final score from his championship match was 3-2.
“[I] felt great. [Had] some pretty great matches and had a tough finals match but I’ve wrestled a lot throughout the years so I knew what to expect,” Whitworth said.
Lucio, first placer at 113 lbs, scored 32 points with three out of five of his matches being won by falls, whereas his last two were won by major decisions. In the finals match for first place, Lucio beat Adrian Jimenez of Marina High School with a series of rapid and successful takedowns, winning the match with a final score of 17-4.
Hercules Windrath, first place medalist at 138 lbs, contributed 31 points. Receiving a bye (I.e. a participant in a tournament who advances to the next round without playing), for round 1 on Friday, Windrath would go on to successfully win all four of his other matches.
In the match for first place, Windrath beat David Preciado of Serrano High School (SHS). With a score of 6-3 in favor of Windrath, he successfully ended the match, pinning Preciado with only 34 seconds left in the last period.
At 170 lbs, first place medalist Khale Mcdonnell displayed his strength and toughness during all five of his matches by racking up 34 points. Like his older brother TJ, Khale Mcdonnell dominated all of his opponents with a series of swift pins.
During his final match for first place, with only eight seconds left in the second period and with a score of 10-2, Khale Mcdonnell finished the match strong, pinning his opponent Blake Chaffee of SHS.
The CIF-SS match concluded with contribution points from all wrestlers as they took home the title for first place.
“[I’m] definitely excited with the team’s performance overall. We had six finalists and five champs. Out of the thirteen guys, we have eleven who are going to Masters next weekend. [I’m] definitely proud of my team,” TJ Mcdonnell said.
Saturday’s conclusion ended with medals given to those in the top seven of each weight class. 11 out of the 13 wrestlers who placed in the top seven will head to the CIF-SS Ford Masters Tournament at Palm Springs High School on Saturday, Feb. 17.
“Fountain Valley did great. A lot of kids made it to the Master’s tournament so it’s exciting to see how many of the kids will make it to state,” Whitworth said.
Scores not mentioned above included:
Second Place Finishers: Senior Dylan Bunbury at 285 lbs with 26 points.
Third Place Finishers: Freshman Hunter Jauregui at 106 lbs with 26 points and senior Nico Naranjo at 152 lbs with 22 points.
Sixth Place Finishers: Junior Gavin Yager at 160 lbs with nine points.
Seventh Place Finishers: Sophomore Jaden Reid at 132 lbs with 11 points and senior Caine Elroy at 220 lbs with 13 points.
Eighth Place Finishers: Senior Isaiah Burney at 145 lbs with six points.
