By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — Weslaco High came away the biggest winner Saturday at the District 16-6A wrestling championship, winning the boys division and coming in second in the girls category.
The Panthers improved on last year’s sixth-place finish among boys teams, while the girls came up shy in repeating as district champions, losing out to La Joya Juarez-Lincoln.
Weslaco had two individual winners Saturday at the two-day event at Edinburg Economedes, with Joshua De Hoyos (106-pound weight class) and David Anguiano (132). Manlio Medellin also competed in the first-place match in the 119 division, but lost to La Joya High’s Gaudencio Tavarez in a tiebreaker.
De Hoyos beat McAllen Memorial’s Marty Alvarado (decision, 7-2), while Anguiano took care of Weslaco East’s George Quiroga in sudden victory, as they punched their tickets to the Region IV-6A meet at the Blossom Athletic Center in San Antonio. The two-day event kicks off Friday.
The Weslaco duo helped the boys team tally 206 points to fend off PSJA Memorial (181) and Juarez-Lincoln (164.5).
On the girls side, Rulyanne Rodriguez paced Weslaco High’s girls, beating Juarez-Lincoln’s Nancy Becerra (dec., 8-3) to claim the 128-pound title. The Lady Panthers totaled 133.5 points, shy of first-place Juarez-Lincoln (158). La Joya High (129) came in third.
NEXT STEP
La Joya Juarez-Lincoln avenged last year’s fourth-place finish Saturday to win the girls title.
The Lady Huskies hoisted their fourth individual tournament trophy in the program history, and ninth overall (including duals). They had five wrestlers advance to Saturday’s finals, with two of those winning their respective weight classes. Leslie Oliva (95), a silver medalist at state last year, defeated McAllen Rowe’s Jessica Cantu (fall, 1:25). The senior boosted her overall record to 26-0 this season.
And Jesenia Gaytan (215) beat La Joya Palmview’s Keyla G. Gutierrez (fall, 2:38), as the junior boosted her mark to 23-0.
They helped the Lady Huskies accumulate 158 points, surpassing runner-up Weslaco High (133.5) and third-place La Joya High (103).
“The girls finally got together and did what they needed to do,” Juarez-Lincoln girls coach Humberto Vela said. “For a while, I thought Weslaco was going to take it. But we had our veterans come up and wrestle well.”
The Lady Huskies had eight girls compete Saturday, and all but one punched their ticket to regionals.
THE REST
La Joya High placed third in the girls division, thanks in part to its first-place finishers: Rosario Ramirez (119) and Steffany Rosas (185).
Ramirez (20-4) beat Juarez-Lincoln’s Angelica Hernandez (fall, 3:10), and Rosas (23-0) run past Mission High’s Jennifer Juarez (fall, 0:48), as the Lady Coyotes posted 129 points to improve from last year’s seventh-place finish.
In the boys division, Adan Reyes (145) and Jacob Escobedo (285) helped PSJA Memorial (181.1 points) to a runner-up finish for a second year in a row. Reyes (25-0) beat Weslaco East’s Julian Perales (fall, 4:46), and Escobedo defeated McAllen High’s Jacob Cuellar (fall, 0:48) to improve to 13-0.
Juarez-Lincoln, the defending boys champion, finished in third place after posting 164.5 points. The Huskies had only one wrestler compete for first place. Ricardo Villegas (152), though, lost to PSJA North’s Braian Sauceda (dec., 8-3).