By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
The Rio Grande City and Weslaco High wrestling programs will take the most participants of any Valley programs to their respective regional meets Friday and Saturday.
RGC has 17 wrestlers, including 10 boys, going to the Region IV-5A meet at the Austin ISD Delco Activity Center, while Weslaco is taking 16 competitors (nine boys) to the IV-6A meet at the Blossom Athletic Center in San Antonio.
The Rattlers are coming off their second straight District 16-5A championship with four first-place winners in the boys division, and two in the girls. The Panthers won the 16-6A title a week ago, as well, while their girls team came in second place. As a program, they had three wrestlers win their respective weight classes.
Agapito Muñoz (106-pound weight class), Rupert Bautista (132), Oscar Garcia (138) and Alex Islas (285) highlight the RGC boys team. Alouette Gonzalez (95) and Allyson Acevedo (119) are leading the girls team, which also won the district title last week for a second year in a row.
The two-day regional meet marks the final step before the UIL state championship Feb. 19-20 at the Berry Center in Cypress.
Weslaco High is led by sophomore Joshua De Hoyos (106), a state qualifier a year ago, and David Anguiano (132). Rulyanne Rodriguez (128), also a returning state qualifier, leads the Lady Panthers.
La Joya Juarez-Lincoln is taking the second-biggest batch of wrestlers (14) to regionals among Valley 6A programs. The Lady Huskies have won nine district titles, including duals. They’re taking seven girls and seven girls to the regional meet. The boys team came in third place at the district championship, trailing first-place Weslaco High and runner-up PSJA Memorial.
In all, 26 programs will represent the Valley this weekend — 15 from Class 6A and 11 from 5A.
Edinburg Vela is taking 11 wrestlers to regionals. Though the boys finished eighth at the district meet a week ago, it qualified five individuals to regionals, led by Mike Mendez (195), who won his respective weight class.
The Lady SaberCats qualified six girls after placing third at district behind RGC and Mission Veterans. They’re paced by Petra Felix (148) and Miranda Melchor (215).
And while Grulla is a Class 4A in all other sports, it competes in 5A for wrestling. As the program, the Gators qualified 10 wrestlers, split evenly between the boys and girls. Grulla’s boys, which finished fourth in district, had three first-place finishers at the 16-5A championships in Victor Segura (113), Jose Angel Zuniga (152) and Mario Marroquin (182).
The Lady Gators, which finished fifth at district, are led by Yasmin Flores, who won the 128-pound division.