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Here's how the Joe Vivian Classic wrestling tournament played out
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Volcano Vista’s boys and Atrisco Heritage’s girls ruled one of the last elite prep wrestling tournaments of the regular season.
The Hawks and Jaguars won the Joe Vivian Classic at Volcano Vista on Saturday afternoon, as the season closes in on the finish.
Volcano Vista put eight into the finals, and scored 280 points, followed by Atrisco Heritage (191.5) and La Cueva (189.5).
Atrisco Heritage’s 171 points were better than runner-up Volcano Vista (133) and third-place West Mesa (114).
BOYS: Volcano Vista produced three champions among the 13 weights: Urijah Garza at 114 pounds, Gabriel Serros at 133 and Jonathon Romero at 139. And the Hawks were this weekend missing their best wrestler, Lorenzo Gallegos.
Atrisco Heritage and La Cueva each had a pair of champions.
The Bears went back-to-back near the end of the finals, first with Nick Mertz at 189 pounds, followed by Mason Posa at 215.
Posa was on the mat an unusual length of time by his standards before he finally won by technical fall 4½ minutes into the match, winning 18-2 over Erik Chavez of Volcano Vista. He remained unbeaten at 27-0.
Mertz is 16-1; he pinned Andre Martinez of Atrisco Heritage midway through the third period. He feels this weight class is his if he performs as expected.
“For sure,” he said. “I’m gonna keep improving, mastering my craft. I don’t think there is anybody who will catch up.”
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From Atrisco Heritage, Maddox Martinez got things started in the finals with a narrow 3-2 decision at 107 pounds, as a third-period escape was the difference in his match with Bradley Martinez of Volcano Vista.
Later, at 172, the Jaguars’ Tatum Garcia, one of the state’s top wrestlers, needed only 85 seconds to get a pin in his final, as he improved to 25-1 with a lone setback at the Conflict at Cleveland earlier this month.
“I’ve been wrestling pretty good,” Garcia said. “Scoring a lot of points … just have to fix the minor mistakes. I feel good, I just have to look forward and keep working hard.”
Some of the metro area’s other top wrestlers also captured Vivian titles Saturday.
James Bachicha of Los Lunas, one of a handful of locals who also won at the Conflict at Cleveland (Posa is among those on this list), took down the 160-pound bracket with a pin.
Cibola’s Diego Torrez is not 100% physically, but he was a Vivian champion, too, at 127 pounds, where he won an entertaining match versus Elijah Sierra of Volcano Vista. Torrez got the pin with just 12 seconds to go in the match.
“It shouldn’t have been that close,” Torrez said. He’s wrestled only 12 matches so far this season.
“It’s not all about winning and losing,” he said. “I just go out there and tell myself to have fun.”
Joshua Jaramillo of Belen was the champ at 121 pounds, and heavyweight Israyel Barraza from Manzano ended the finals by pinning Valley’s Juan Vigil.
GIRLS: West Mesa’s program had one of its best showings since girls wrestling became an official sport.
The Mustangs had two champions with the always-steady Kayla Jose at 120 pounds, and then Briyah Shipley later on at 185 pounds.
The champion Jaguars also had two Vivian champions, with the excellent Sophia Rimbert taking the 126-pound bracket, and Leslie Nayarez winning the tournament at 114 pounds.
Sandia’s Jaden Meadows, a wrestler who no one has been able to solve since she started competing for the Matadors, continued to steamroll opponents, and she’s perfect at 165 pounds after this weekend. Her teammate, Kassandra Arundale-Walton, preceded her as a champion at 152 pounds.
Other metro-area champs Saturday were Vanessa Ramos of Albuquerque High (100), Emma Gutierrez of Manzano (107) and Madelyn Quintana of Eldorado (132).
