Fountain Valley wrestling trio take titles in Five Counties Tournament
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Fountain Valley gave a strong account of itself in its host event, the Barons supplying three individual champions on Saturday in the Five Counties wrestling tournament.
Issac Torres, Kavi Garvey and Mikel David Uyemora won their respective weight classes, leading Fountain Valley to a third-place finish overall.
Uyemora, a senior in his second year with the program after transferring from San Marino, held off Gilroy senior Dalton Compton, 8-6, for an upset decision of the top seed in the 150-pound final.
“I know [Compton] shoots from space, so he’s trying to stay away from me and get to his shots from open,” Uyemora said in breaking down his closely-contested championship match. “I’m trying to attack and stay disciplined in my tie-ups, trying to get to his body and get to his legs. I keep working his arms, so that I don’t keep space between us, where he’s good at.”
The Five Counties Tournament is widely recognized for featuring some of the top programs in the state. That’s where Uyemora’s long-term focus is. He said he believes the Barons can place among the top five in the state tournament as a team.
“As long as everyone’s trying their hardest and working on improving, I think that’s a win out of a tournament,” Uyemora added. “We’re really getting ready for the state tournament. That’s our biggest thing. How we do today doesn’t really matter as much as how we do at the end of February.”
Garvey, the third seed at 144 pounds, had a dominant run through the bracket, racking up three pins, two technical falls and a major decision. The junior transfer from Dana Hills had his right knee wrapped and limped through the gym during the awards ceremony.
“It means everything,” Garvey said of being able to represent the Barons with a title on campus. “There’s so many teams. In front of everyone, in front of my home gym, all the people supporting you, when I walked out onto that finals mat, I just could feel the energy, and I didn’t feel like anyone could beat me.”
Torres, the fourth seed at 126 pounds, was made to work for results as the tournament progressed. After beginning the action with three technical falls, he scored wins by decision from the quarterfinals on. In the semifinals and finals, the score of both matches was 4-2, leaving them hanging in the balance until time ran out in the third period.
“I feel like that match was probably more defensive than my usual matches,” Torres said after edging Servite’s Massimo Ortiz in the title bout. “I feel like I’m more on the offensive side, but sometimes, you got to readjust how you wrestle to work with some of these guys. I wrestled this kid before at the Servite duel, and I beat him. It was a closer match this time. I know that this kid knows how I wrestle, and I know how this kid wrestles. I just had to change up my style a little bit.”
Fountain Valley also had freshman Mason McDonnell place fourth at 157 pounds, while junior Brayden Carson capped his tournament with a win in the seventh-place match.
Gilroy, behind an event-best five champions out of its six finalists, topped the team standings with 321.5 points, followed by Mountain View with 218 points. Fountain Valley accumulated 198.5 points. Servite, which placed eighth with 129 points, was the only other Orange County school to finish among the top 10.
Five Counties Tournament
At Fountain Valley High
Team Results
1. Gilroy 321.5; 2. Mountain View 218; 3. Fountain Valley 198.5; 4. Granite Hills 187.5; 5. Cleveland 184; 6. Etiwanda 140.5; 7. St. John Bosco 133; 8. Servite 129; 9. Oakdale 120; 10. Hesperia 113.5; 31. Huntington Beach 61; 62. Costa Mesa 33.5; 68. Newport Harbor 28.5; 73. Marina 26.5; 84. Laguna Beach 21
Championship Matches
106 — Luke Loren (St. John Bosco) tech. fall Kayden Khim (Clovis West), 16-0.
113 — Eli Mendoza (Gilroy) tech. fall Jonathan Jasso (Redwood), 21-3.
120 — Roman Luttrell (Cleveland) pins Troy Montero (La Mirada), 0:43.
126 — Issac Torres (Fountain Valley) dec. Massimo Ortiz (Servite), 4-2.
132 — Gabriel Pacheco (Central Union) dec. Azuan Gonzales-Rice (Etiwanda), 9-6.
138 — Moses Mendoza (Gilroy) pins Mathius Garza (Etiwanda), 3:07.
144 — Kavi Garvey (Fountain Valley) pins Ames-Michael Hoevker (Granite Hills), 4:21.
150 — Mikel David Uyemora (Fountain Valley) dec. Dalton Compton (Gilroy), 8-6.
157 — Aiden Chur (Granite Hills) dec. Sergio Gomez (St. John Bosco), 7-3.
165 — Kaleo Garcia (Gilroy) tech. fall Brody McClure (Mountain View), 17-2.
175 — Travis Grace (Gilroy) tech. fall Max Stevenson (Hesperia), 21-3.
190 — Delton Kaufman (Mountain View) pins Brady Williams (Walnut), 1:07.
215 — Brian Haran (Gilroy) dec. Adam Avila (Brawley Union), 7-3.
285 — Riley Haussler (Cleveland) pins Brian Haas (Bell Gardens), 2:27.
