By STEFAN MODRICH | Staff Writer
Los Fresnos’ Thiago Almeida and Samuel Hernandez earned state qualifying spots at the Region IV-6A final Saturday at Littleton Gymnasium in San Antonio, and the rest of the Falcons were named alternates.
“Overall, our kids wrestled hard,” Los Fresnos coach Kevin Nguyen said. “There’s a lot of tough kids up here at the regional tournament. No one gave up,they (left it all) on the mat.”
The District 16-6A champions had six all-region wrestlers, including Almeida (fourth place) at 106, Roman Rodriguez (fifth place) at 120, Fabian Sosa (fifth place) at 126, Hernandez (fourth place) at 195 and Leeroy Guerrero (sixth place) at 220.
In the girls bracket, Karen Waters finished in fifth place at 215.
“I think one (thing) we need to work on next week at state is limiting our mistakes,” Nguyen said. “Mistakes caught a couple of our kids. And mistakes become less and less forgiving as we advance.”
San Benito captain Arturo Solis advanced to the second day of the regional final, where his postseason ended in an eighth-place finish in the 160-pound weight class.
“The guys tried their best, and with a young team this was a great learning experience,” San Benito coach Xavier Perez said. We had (Solis) advance to Day 2 of the tournament (where he finished in the) top eight. Unfortunately, we did not advance anyone to state.”
The top wrestler for the Lady ’Hounds was Yamilex Perez, who finished third at 165, qualifying for the state meet and improving her overall record to 26-3.