NATHANIEL MATA | THE MONITOR
EDINBURG — The Edinburg High boys used a late push to come from behind against defending champions Weslaco High and win the District 16-6A team championship for the first time in school history on Saturday at Edinburg North High School.
Edinburg High began to take hold of the tournament in the 138-pound championship match, when Ramon Lopez defeated Oziel Trevino of McAllen Memorial. The two were locked in a tight contest in which Trevino forced overtime just before time expired.
Lopez regrouped in extra time and earned the sudden victory after turning on Trevino.
“I just couldn’t grasp any words,” Lopez said. “My emotions were all over the place. I was just shocked how much hard work pays off in the end. I’m not the only one that puts in all the work. We have a lot of guys that put in extra work after practice. To be a part of that is outstanding.”
Edinburg High picked up an important win from Genaro Emiliano, who pinned Angel Torres of Weslaco High in 53 seconds. At the time, the Bobcats were still chasing the Panthers in the standings.
Jose Carillo finished as a silver medalist, runner-up to Deon’dre Gonzalez of Los Fresnos.
The Bobcats also had third-place finishes from Angel Villanueva (195), Miguel Olan (145), Evan Ruiz (220) and Athen Villanueva (182).
Weslaco High’s Manlio Medellin was a champion in the 126 division after his opponent couldn’t compete in the final due to injury. At 145, Christian Garcia defeated Weslaco East’s Shawn De La Rosa in an all-Weslaco championship.
Caleb Muniz was the final Panther to win individual gold, in the 160 division over Leo Villegas of McAllen Rowe.
One of the most exciting matches during the final day was at 113 pounds. Alberto Juarez of Mission High was trailing Weslaco High’s Joshua De Hoyos 3-2 with time expiring. With six seconds remaining on the clock, Juarez got behind his opponent for two points and a buzzer-beating win.
In the final round, the match was stopped to treat De Hoyos’ bleeding. During that time, Juarez said he locked in to win the rematch of last season’s district championship, when he finished second to the same opponent.
“It felt amazing. I was ecstatic. Longest six seconds of my life,” Juarez said. “Throughout the whole thing, I was thinking of my game plan, but that went out the door when the whistle blew. It was just instincts.”
Edinburg Vela 132-pounder Robby Silva had a successful day. In the morning, he won his semifinal match to reach 100 career wins as only a junior. He was presented with a trophy for the milestone.
“As soon as the match ended, it was just an emotional win,” Silva said. “All the hours of training, all hours of weightlifting, everything I’ve done finally paid off. It was great to see everybody there, all my friends, all my family, everybody there just cheering me on.”
Silva made the day even sweeter when he won the 132 district championship with a pin of La Joya High’s Jacob Gonzalez. He went to his family to celebrate his first district title saying, “Third time’s the charm.”
On the girl’s side, La Joya High defended its 2017 championship with another first-place team finish. The Coyotes didn’t have an individual winner in the tournament, but they had silver medalists earn valuable points.
La Joya had 160 points to claim first place, Weslaco High had 122 points in second place and PSJA High followed with 113 points.
“Our girls have been working hard all year,” Coyotes coach Christopher Hernandez said. “They have that mentality where they’re not going to give up. They know if they are an inch away from getting pinned, they still have a chance to come back and win. We had that situation a couple of times today.”
Estephany De la Rosa lost a 15-7 decision against Los Fresnos’s Mayeli Chaidez in the 95 class. Veronica Montes finished silver behind state-ranked PSJA High wrestler Destiny Baltierra in the 165 division.
Haylee Guzman received silver after a defeat at the hands of McAllen High’s Serena Cervantes. The McHi senior was the lone Bulldogs wrestler to earn gold but was the most one-sided winner in the girl’s competition without getting the fall. Cervantes led 6-0 after one round, 10-1 after two rounds and eventually won the match 14-2.
In the 102 division, Juarez-Lincoln senior Vanessa Doria was off to a slow start for much of the match against Sidney Quintanilla. The score was 3-1 heading into the third round, but the Huskies wrestler turned up the intensity and finished with the 7-1 win to earn her first district gold medal.
“At the very beginning, it was a close match. It was all because I ate, and I was kind of feeling like throwing up,” Doria said. “I was like, ‘I wake up really early to run, to cut weight, to do everything. I need to suck it up and do my best to try to win district champ.’ That was my goal since sophomore year.”
Weslaco High’s Melissa Ibarra won her second district title in the 110 weight class, defeating Nayeli Hernandez of PSJA High with a second-round pin.
PSJA High had three individual winners: Baltierra in 165, who won via 6-4 decision; Nancy Saldana, who pinned Ashley Leos of Weslaco High at 138; and Ashbby Alvarado, who won the 119 district title.
“It was super overwhelming,” Alvarado said. “I went in nervous, because I didn’t want to make a small mistake that could cost my match. I was just hoping for the best. My defense put me over the top.”
VALLEY HS WRESTLING RESULTS
District 16-6A Wrestling Tournament
Saturday, Feb. 10
At Edinburg North High School, Edinburg
Boys
Team Results
1, Edinburg High, 194; 2, Weslaco High, 172.5; 3, McAllen Rowe, 143.5; 4, Edinburg Vela, 136; 5, Los Fresnos, 124.5; 6, PSJA High, 124.5; 7, Edinburg North, 111.5; 8, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln, 111; 9, La Joya High, 108; 10, Mission High, 87.5
Individual Regional Qualifiers by Weight Class
106 — 1, Abel Alvarado, PSJA Memorial; 2, Victor Sanchez, PSJA High; 3, Alejandro Rodriguez, San Benito; 4, Steve Juarez, PSJA Southwest
113 — 1, Alberto Juarez, Mission High; 2, Joshua De Hoyos, Weslaco High; 3, Jaden Trevino, PSJA High; 4, Brandon Escobedo, Edinburg North
120 — 1, Alexis Villegas, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln; 2, Aaron Cuevas, Mission High; 3, Isaac Ramirez, McAllen Memorial; 4, Isaias Galvan, Edinburg North
126 — 1, Manlio Medellin, Weslaco High; 2, Julio Morales, Edinburg Vela; 3, Gaudencio Tavarez, La Joya High School; 4, Johnithyn Salyers, PSJA Memorial
132 — 1, Roberto Silva, Edinburg Vela; 2, Jacob Gonzalez, La Joya High; 3, Ahram Solis, Los Fresnos; 4, John Arriola, McAllen Rowe
138 — 1, Ramon Lopez, Edinburg HIgh; 2, Oziel Trevino, McAllen Memorial; 3, Petey Lozano, McAllen Rowe; 4, Humberto Alvala, Edinburg Vela
145 — 1, Christian Garcia, Weslaco High; 2, Shawn De la Rosa, Weslaco East; 3, Miguel Olan, Edinburg High; 4, Mark Pease, McAllen High
152 — 1, Genaro Emiliano, Edinburg High; 2, Angel Torres, Weslaco High; 3, Abelardo Gomez, Edinburg North; 4, Jose Luis Tovar, La Joya High
160 — 1, Caleb Muniz, Weslaco High; 2, Leo Villegas, McAllen Rowe; 3, Jan Vela, La Joya High; 4, Mauro Rodriguez-Hernandez, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln
170 — 1, Joshua Alaniz, Edinburg Vela; 2, Michael Solis, PSJA High; 3, Taly Cano, McAllen Rowe; 4, Juan Bolanos, Edinburg Economedes
182 — 1, Alberto Alcala, Edinburg Vela; 2, Victor Gutierrez, Mission High; 3, Athen Villanueva, Edinburg High; 4, Hector Lopez, McAllen Rowe
195 — 1, Omar Aguinaga, McAllen Rowe; 2, Brandon Rich-Avalos, Edinburg North; 3, Angel Villanueva, Edinburg High; 4, Tomas Garces, Weslaco High
220 — 1, Jeremiah Gonzalez, Los Fresnos; 2, Erick Espinoza, Edinburg Economedes; 3, Evan Ruiz, Edinburg High; 4, Mark Gutierrez, PSJA Memorial
285 — 1, Deon’dre Gonzalez, Los Fresnos; 2, Jose Carrillo, Edinburg High; 3, Jose Ceja, PSJA High; 4, Jesus Lozano, Weslaco East
Girls
Team Results
1, La Joya High, 160; 2, Weslaco High 122; 3, PSJA High, 113; 4, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln, 105.5; 5, Edinburg North, 98; 6, San Benito, 93; 7, Edinburg High, 78; 8, Los Fresnos, 65; 9, Edinburg Economeds, 59.0; 10, McAllen High, 58.5
Individual Regional Qualifiers by Weight Class
95 — 1, Mayeli Chaidez, Los Fresnos; 2, Estephany De la Rosa, La Joya High; 3, Krisol Cornejo, Edinburg Vela; 4, Jerilyn Abby Peralez, Edinburg North
102 — 1, Vanessa Doria, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln; 2, Sidney Quintanilla, McAllen Memorial; 3, Natalee Guzman, La Joya High; 4, Amanda Solorio, Edinburg Vela
110 — 1, Melissa Ibarra, Weslaco High; 2, Nayeli Hernandez, PSJA High; 3, Destiny Garza, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln; 4, Jaqueline Ortiz, Edinburg Vela
119 — 1, Ashbby Alvarado, PSJA High; 2, Guadalupe Chavez, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln; 3, Lesly Ramirez, La Joya High; 4, Stephany Juarez, McAllen High
128 — 1, Serena Cervantes, McAllen High; 2, Haylee Guzman, La Joya High; 3, Viviana Torres, San Benito; 4, Eva Cerda, Edinburg North
138 — 1, Nancy Saldana, PSJA High; 2, Ashley Leos, Weslaco High; 3, Iris Alanis, La Joya High; 4, Alejandra Hernandez, McAllen Rowe
148 — 1, Hannah Martinez, Edinburg North; 2, Maria Rangel, Edinburg High; 3, Maricela Alvarado, McAllen Rowe; 4, Maria Hernandez, La Joya High
165 — 1, Destiny Baltierra, PSJA High; 2, Veronica Montes, La Joya High; 3, Isabel Rodriguez, PSJA Southwest; 4, Mariana Garza, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln
185 — 1, Dulce Arena, Edinburg Economedes; 2, Britney Zuniga, Edinburg High; 3, Paola Espinoza, Weslaco East; 4, Ana Santana, Edinburg North
215 — 1, Alexis Lopez, Weslaco High; 2, Brianna Gomez, Mission High; 3, Elisa Varela, Edinburg Economedes; 4, Leslie Peralta, Edinburg High