Eleven EGUSD Grapplers Make State Tournament

Eleven Elk Grove-area wrestlers will compete this weekend in the CIF State Wrestling Championships in Bakersfield.

Seven of those grapplers are from Elk Grove High School, a team that qualified all 14 members of their team for the two-day Sac-Joaquin Section Masters’ Tournament in Stockton.

The top six finishers in each weight classification at the Masters earned a trip to Bakersfield. That tournament gets underway Thursday.

Elk Grove’s 112-pounder Jacob Seto was the only local grappler to make the championship match. The sophomore ended up losing the Masters’ championship to Del Oro’s Landon McBride in a 7-4 decision.

EGHS' Jacob Seto, 2nd at 113 pounds

In what might be the upset of the entire Masters tournament, the Herd’s 220-pounder, Sai Ta’amu, who went into the event undefeated was pinned in a quarterfinal match with Pablo Miller of Del Oro. That match lasted only 19 seconds.

Ta’amu rebounded quickly with four wins, three by fall, to grab third place in his weight. He pinned Shane Torre of Calaveras in 3:34 in the bronze medal match.

Another Herd grappler that finished in third place was Kalani Tonge at 132 pounds. His only loss of the Masters was a 6-3 decision to Zack Ruybal of Del Oro in the semi-finals.

Cosumnes Oaks’ 195-pounder Armando Glinton also was a third-place finisher. He lost his opening match to Dylan Crane of Folsom, 11-4, then won seven bouts in a row.  Glinton faced Crane once again during a consolation round match beating him, 7-4.

In the third-place match Glinton defeated Hunter Halverson of Del Oro, 2-1.

Elk Grove’s Jake Bellecci finished sixth at 195 pounds to grab a spot in the State championships.

At 182, Florin’s Isaiah Weathers, a Division II champion from Florin, placed fifth and will his school’s lone representative in Bakersfield.

Placing sixth at 152 pounds was Arsenio Ayala of Elk Grove. Teammate Carson Sperbe was also a sixth-placer at 145 pounds.

Terrell Turner ended up fifth at 138. In his final match of Masters he defeated Franklin’s Antonio Jimenez, 4-1. Jimenez, though, will represent his school in Bakersfield.

Monterey Trail’s lone entrant at State will be Israel Washington. He ended up sixth at 113 pounds.

Just missing the qualification for State was Sheldon’s Ethan Brewer, who ended up seventh at 126 pounds, Robbie Nickerson, seventh at 182, and Elk Grove’s Jesse Arroyo. He was seventh at 120 pounds.

Del Oro won the Masters’ team championship while Elk Grove ended up fourth overall.  Oakdale placed second and Folsom third.

Quick Hits ….

--Elk Grove’s first state champion wrestler, John Ming, will be inducted into Sacramento City College’s Sports Hall of Fame. He wrestled two years for the Panthers, the last being 1969-70.

That year he finished third in the California Community College’s championships. He set a school record 28 falls that season, a record that stood 44 years.

--Spencer Levin missed the cut this weekend in the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic in Florida.

--Kyle Larson struggled through much of Sunday’s Folds of Honor Quik Trip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Near the end of the 325-lap ordeal, his car got involved in a crash and he finished in 26^th place.

“Such a frustrating race,” he tweeted afterwards. “(I have a ) top five car, but had no luck. We’ve got a great team just gotta get the luck changed. We’ll be okay.”

NASCAR comes to Las Vegas this weekend.

--Sacramento State closed Saturday’s game on a 20-9 run and defeated Portland State, 73-60. The win placed the Hornets just one game shy of clinching the Big Sky regular season championship. Pleasant Grove grad Cody Demps scored eight points, had four assists and five rebounds in the win.

The Hornets can snatch the Big Sky title  Thursday night at Southern Utah.

“We will stick with the same recipe we've followed all year, and we won't look any further ahead than the next game,” Sac State head coach Brian Katz said. “Southern Utah is a much improved team, they played us well in Sacramento and I anticipate a highly competitive game."

--San Diego State is now 12-4 and tied with Boise State atop the Mountain West Conference.  Freshman Malik Pope (Laguna Creek H.S.) is averaging 14 minutes and 5.2 points a game. Also coming off the bench is Sheldon’s Dakarai Allen and D’Erryl Williams.

--This is the first year for baseball at Folsom Lake College. The Falcons are already doing quite well – an 11-4 overall record and atop their conference with a 3-0 mark.

The roster are dotted with several local players: pitcher Skylar Quam (Elk Grove H.S.), catcher Anthony Poindexter (Laguna Creek H.S.), catcher Josh Criswell (Bradshaw Christian H.S.), infielder Steele Hadfield (Sheldon H.S.), pitcher Zack Reid (Sheldon H.S.), infielder Zach Rogers and infielder Grant Heisinger (Bradshaw Christian H.S.).