STATE PREP WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS : Holloway, Valdez Lose in Finals, Ending Six-Year County Streak

Shane Holloway brought his act out of the cramped, drafty locker room that passes for Saddleback’s wrestling room and into the limelight at the CIF State championships Saturday at the University of the Pacific.

As a freshman, Holloway learned the sport the hard way as Saddleback, far from a wrestling power back then, had a 2-8 dual meet record. But over the years, he grew stronger and became more accomplished, even as baseball players wandered in and out of the locker room wondering why he was rolling around on the floor.

Holloway’s long journey to wrestling renown finally ended with a berth in the 135-pound championship match against El Monte Arroyo’s Daniel Maes, a third-place finisher at last season’s State meet. In front of a sellout crowd of 6,000, Holloway lost, 10-2, but simply reaching the final was a victory in itself, he later said.

“Really, I didn’t expect to get this far,” said Holloway, a senior who finished with a 38-4 record this season and a 93-31 career mark. “I wanted to get to State, but I didn’t know I’d be able to go this far.”

Indeed, Holloway seemed to improve almost weekly. Maes took him apart, 17-1, in the Masters championship match last Saturday at Fountain Valley.

“Holloway came a long way to catch Maes,” Saddleback Coach Paul LaBlanc said. “Last year, he was fourth at (Southern Section) 2-A and Maes was third in State.”

Holloway and Shane Valdez, a 112-pound sophomore from Calvary Chapel, were the only Orange County wrestlers to reach the finals Saturday night.

Valdez was defeated by Jose Enriquez of Norwalk Glenn, 8-3, and when Holloway later lost, it broke a six-year string of at least one county champion. And it was only the fourth time in the past 20 years that a county wrestler failed to win a title.

Canyon’s Matt Padgett didn’t leave Stockton with a State title at 160 pounds, but he pushed his career pin total to 114, which is believed to be a national record for a wrestler from a three-year high school.

“It didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted, but it was pretty close,” said Padgett, a senior who finished third.

He recorded the last of his 44 pins this season when he stopped Neil Jackson of San Jose Oak Grove 2:39 into their third-place match.

After losing to eventual champion Keith Richards of Mission San Jose in the second round Friday, Padgett recorded three pins in the consolation round and finished the season with a 54-1 record.

“I had a long road back (after the loss to Richards),” Padgett said. “I had to win six matches just to get third.”

And he did it by following his usual method of operation--throwing his opponents on their backs.

Meet Notes

Orange County’s other placers:

At 103 pounds--Hugo Amaya of Valencia lost to Aaron Radman of Bakersfield West, 5-2, and was fourth.

At 112--Jim Provencio of Valencia defeated Chris Xavier of Torrance, 7-3, in the fifth-place match.

At 119--Dane Valdez of Calvary Chapel finished eighth after losing to Charlie Valencia of Alhambra Keppel, 8-1, in the seventh-place match.

At 125--Valencia’s David Quintero won his third-place match with a 3-1 overtime victory over Curtis Summers of Clovis.

At 130--Zac Tapia of San Clemente defeated Carl Sharmitaro of San Diego Ramona, 6-2, in the seventh-place match.

At 135--Savanna’s Brad Belanger lost to Christian Fox of San Jose Ponderosa, 4-3, in the third-place match.

At heavyweight--Mike Bolster of Huntington Beach lost his third-place match to Cory Farkas of Poway, 3-0, and finished in fourth place.