Wrestling: Southern Section’s most dominant weight class is ...

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Early in the season I wrote about the large number of talented Southern Section wrestlers in the middle weight classes. And recently I discussed the quality of the heavyweights out of the Inland Division.

But judging from the results of the CIF state championships, the most dominant weight class in the Southern Section turned out to be 119, which delivered four state place-winners -- Santa Fe’s Marcus Orona in third, South Hills’ Thomas Williams in fourth, Mayfair’s Richard Alaron in fifth and Sultana’s Ryan Fillingame in sixth.

(A quick sidenote: A showdown between Orona and Williams, who had been the ranked as the top two in the Southern Section at various points this year, seemed destined all season. But it didn’t happen at Five Counties, where they would have met in the finals if Williams hadn’t lost in the semis en route to a third-place finish. Orona was the eventual champion.

It also didn’t happen at last week’s Southern Section Masters meet, where Orona lost to Alarcon in the quarterfinals before battling back to finish third. That time, Williams was the eventual champion.

But they both pulled off one-point victories in the state consolation semifinals and finally faced one another in the third-place match, where Orona edged Williams, 3-1. Read about their match, plus a heartbreaking loss for San Dimas’ Angel Garcia in the 125-pound finals, here.)

The Southern Section had three state place-winners in three weight classes -- 125, 160 and heavyweight. By the way, two of the three heavyweights were from the Inland Division -- Willie Hernandez of Norte Vista was sixth and Eduardo Marquez of Temecula Valley was eighth (Jose Lopez of Glenn, from the Coastal Division, took fifth place).

-- Chuck Schilken, guest blogger

-- Image from www.wrestlingsbest.com