Wrestling: More notes from last weekend’s meets

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

One more glance back at the Southern Section Masters and City Section Championship meets before moving on to this weekend’s state tournament in Bakersfield:

-- All but one of the eventual Masters champions entered the tournament ranked either No. 1 or 2 in the Southern Section. In fact, 130-pound wrestler Adrian Marquez was not ranked at all. Yet, the Rosemead senior defeated a pair of ranked wrestlers -- No. 4 Frank Martinez of Northview, 4-3, in the semifinals and No. 2 Scott Chene of Irvine, 5-3, in the finals -- and took home the title with four decisions and a major decision. He discussed winning the meet after not even placing last year in the Pasadena Star-News.

-- Canyon Springs junior Jacob Rodriguez posted more pins than any other Masters champion -- he had pins in his first four matches, three in the second period and one in the third, before beating Ben Rivera of Marina by major decision, 9-0, in the 152-pound championship. Millikan senior Travis Clock pinned his first three opponents in the first period (35 seconds, 56 seconds, 1:22) but defaulted the rest of the tournament to finish sixth at 189 pounds.

-- Neither 145-pound wrestler Kyle Cooper of Elsinore nor 152-pounder John Rodda of Atascadero qualified for the state meet, but they earned the distinction of posting the quickest pins of the Masters meet -- Rodda in 20 seconds and Cooper in 28 seconds.

-- San Fernando was the big winner at the City meet -- winning its third straight team title and advancing six wrestlers, including four-time City champion Mike Solis at 140, to the state tournament -- but a wrestler from Reseda, Mohammed Nazar, was selected the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler. Nazar, ranked No. 4 in the City, pinned top-ranked Matt Castillo of San Fernando in 1:23 in the 189-pound finals. Two other individual champions -- Thomas Cottrell of Chatsworth at 130 and Sebastian Escobar of Granada Hills at 135 -- also started the day ranked No. 4. The Daily News has more details on the meet.

-- Chuck Schilken, guest blogger

- Image by www.wrestlingsbest.com.