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The 2012 Joe Vivian Classic saw eight of the 14 weight divisions captured by No. 1 seeds Saturday night at Albuquerque High School. The loss by one of the other No. 1s was the evening’s most shocking development.
Cleveland junior Paul Mascareñas, a two-time state champion ranked third in the country in one publication at 113 pounds, was stunned 6-4 by Las Vegas Robertson freshman Richard Montoya.
It was Mascareñas’ second loss in a week – the other came to the country’s No. 1 at a tournament in California – but this was his first loss to a New Mexico wrestler since January 2010.
“I don’t know what happened,” a teary-eyed Mascareñas said.
The second-seeded Montoya, a state champ last year as an eighth-grader, dropped down in weight from 120 to 113 with the specific goal of taking on Mascareñas. He was in control for pretty much the entire six minutes in the decision.
“I wanted to wrestle him because he’s a tough wrestler,” Montoya said. “Wrestle and see what happens. It means a lot.”
Aside from Montoya, there were no major surprises.
It would be difficult to count AHS’s D’Yon Santiago among them, even though as a No. 5 seed at 132 he was the lowest seed to win a title. Santiago came into the event undefeated, but the nature of the seeding process left him with a 5.
He was involved in one of the most exciting matches, a 6-5 decision over No. 2 seed Ernesto Salvidrez of Capital.
“I just wanted this tournament really bad,” Santiago (25-0) said. “I really want to go undefeated and get a state championship, and I knew this tournament would put me one step closer.”
The Vivian is the most prestigious regular-season tourney. And the hardest to win.
Rio Rancho (175 1/2 points) took the team title without an individual champion. Cleveland, on the strength of late wins by Jake King at 170 and Mich Napier at 182, overtook Rio Grande for second place, 162 1/2-156 1/2.
Rio Grande had champions in Gabriel Montaño at 106 and Chris Hernandez at 195.
Volcano Vista’s two No. 1 seeds, Eric Montoya (126) and Lawrence Otero (138), both cruised to victories. Montoya won by technical fall, 22-7, and Otero rolled 13-3.
From the metro area, Cibola’s Thomas Barela at 145 and Highland’s Cody Marquez at 220 also took first place.
“It’s just easy,” said the 19-0 Marquez. “There’s not much of a challenge at 220. There are some good athletes, but I feel like I’m more prepared.”
The Most Outstanding wrestlers were Santiago at the lower weights, St. Michael’s Jess Martinez (the 152-pound winner) at the middle weights and Marquez (4-0 with four pins) at the upper weights.
Other champions were Phillip Gonzales of Belen at 120, Anthony Abeyta of Santa Fe at 160 and Hobbs heavyweight Zac Rachal. PREP WRESTLING
Reprint story -- Email the reporter at jyodice@abqjournal.com.
