It’s No Contest In Five Counties

Once Bakersfield High pulled into the Fountain Valley High parking lot Saturday at the Five Counties wrestling tournament, the only thing left to settle were the individual titles.

Bakersfield ran away with the tournament by qualifying nine wrestlers for the championship quarterfinals. Six made it to the finals and four won titles. The Drillers amassed 219 points.

Clovis Buchanan was second with 156 points, Clovis third with 140, Poway fourth with 131 and Temecula Valley fifth with 114.

Temecula Valley got a boost when top-seeded Jeff Bristol defeated Villa Park’s Buck Barger, 9-4, in the 140-pound final. Bristol has three wins over Barger this season. “This isn’t going to be the last time we meet up,” said Bristol, who became friends with Barger when the two wrestled in a national event last summer.

Santa Ana and Arroyo Grande qualified two wrestlers each for the finals. Arroyo Grande’s Kirk Davis, seeded third, defeated sixth-seeded Jimmy Becerra of Santa Ana, 12-8, in the 189-pound final.

Becerra reached the final after pinning top-seeded Daniel Folmer of Buchanan. Arroyo Grande’s Arturo Basulto, top-seeded in the heavyweight division, reached the final, where he lost to fourth-seeded Kyle Devan of Vacaville, 3-2, in overtime.

Santa Ana’s Fernando Jaimes, seeded sixth, lost to top-seeded Drew East of Bakersfield, 21-6, in the 152-pound final. Santa Ana Calvary Chapel, which sent six wrestlers to the finals last year en route to its second consecutive title, had just one finalist, top-seeded Joe Williams, who won by injury default over Peter Gladish of San Diego Mt. Carmel. The Eagles finished 11th with 78 points.

Camarillo’s Jake Nishimura was one of two unseeded wrestlers to reach the finals, where he faced top-seeded Gerrard Contreras of Buchanan at 103 pounds. Nishimura lost a 3-1 decision to Contreras, who was third last year.