LUBBOCK – Traditions lived on and reputations were mostly defended Saturday afternoon at the Region I-5A wrestling meet at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center.
Not that such events are a surprise, especially when they involve the Randall boys in a traditionally big meet.
The defending Class 5A state champions lived up to their reputation at the team level in decisive fashion. Randall won the team title with 218.5 points, finishing 50 points ahead of second place Azle.
As usual, it was a matter of balance for Randall, as the boys won four individual championships to lead the way to the team title.
“That final round we have four go to the consolation semifinals to advance then four to win,” Randall coach David Quirino said. “We went 9-1 those last two rounds and that was big in shifting the momentum. We had bonus points getting those pins.”
Three of Randall’s four individual winners won via pin, with their two smallest finalists setting the tone early.
At 126 pounds, Mikey Ruiz has shown that moving up in weight class hasn’t hurt him one bit. Ruiz, who won the state championship last year at 113 pounds, has kept up his winning ways at 126, as he pinned White Settlement Brewer’s Caleb Cedeno Mendoza at 1:13 to improve to 24-2.
“I did my part again,” Ruiz said. “You just treat every match the same and wrestle tough all the way through. It was a goal since the beginning of the season. I knew I was going to (wrestle at 126). “There’s no real difference. I felt good and I trained better and I still wrestled exactly the same. It’s just a number.”
Ruiz’s old “number” has been taken by sophomore Abraham Campa Cortes at 113. Campa Cortes filled those shoes nicely, pinning Tascosa’s Aiden River at 3:17 in the finals to improve to 28-5.
“I didn’t really have any competition in the region so I expected to pin my way through the meet,” said Campa Cortes, who won all four of his region matches via pin. “I’ve wrestled (Rivera) many times and I’ve pinned him every time. My goal was to make it to state because I broke my arm in regionals last year so I’m really proud of myself for getting this far.”
The other Randall wrestler who won by pin was junior Daniel Acosta, who pinned Azle’s Landin Evans in 2:43. Mark Gallegos had the toughest time of all the Randall winners, as he won a hard-fought match against Lubbock-Cooper’s Gabriel Ordonez, 6-3, to claim the 175 title.
While Randall was the top team, the top individual in the meet was also a metro competitor, and perhaps the most dominant wrestler in the meet. Palo Duro’s Darien Lewis cruised to victory at 190 and was named the boys outstanding wrestler of the meet.
“It means so much,” said Lewis, who’s now 35-0 on the season. “There are so many good guys here in this circle. As far as state goes, it’s championship or bust for me.”
Lewis wasted little time in the finals, pinning Canyon’s Braden Swanson in 49 seconds. He won all four of his matches via pin, none of which took longer than 68 seconds.
“I plan to win state undefeated,” Lewis said. “I put all my hard work on the mat. Pins are what we’re looking at to dominate. All I’ve ever known was to dominate and that’s what I went out there and did.”
Unbeatens split
On the girls side, two area wrestlers who were defending state champions entered the meet undefeated, like Lewis. Only one of them, though, left Lubbock that way.
At 235, defending state champion Ariana Chavez of Borger stayed perfect on the year, pinning Khylee Whalen of Dumas at the three-minute mark to improve to 43-0. Chavez got the pin after a scoreless first period.
“I didn’t know what to expect from this match,” Chavez said. “I was a little nervous so I just kind of went with the flow. I’d beaten (Whalen) before, but I worried about it because mistakes can happen and you get beat.”
Randall’s Emma Heaton also carried an unbeaten mark into her championship match at 185 against Hereford’s Mareetza Maceda. After winning 26 straight matches to start the season, though, Heaton left the mat for the first time this season with a loss.
Maceda scored a takedown in the second period after Heaton scored a point and held on for a 3-2 victory in what might have been the most surprising result of the day, although Maceda was the defending region champion at that weight. Heaton was unbeaten after moving up from 165, where she won state last year.
“I’ve always treated this like any other tournament,” Maceda said. “I came here to prove to everybody I’m coming for a state title and I’m going to do what’s possible to get there. The girls in my bracket are all good and competitive and it all comes down to who wants it more. It’s my senior year and I want to go all out.”
Maceda led 3-1 going into the final period and took more of a defensive posture which seemed to frustrate Heaton, who scored a point but couldn’t tie it or take the lead with a takedown.
“I chose bottom because I was confident I could get out,” Maceda said. “I thought she was getting back points because I was on my shoulder. I didn’t know I was winning at the time.”
The only other area winner for the girls was Berkley Funderburg of Dumas, who improved to 41-3 by beating Cooper’s Lillie Long 9-3 in the 107 finals.
That was the highlight of the day for Dumas, who despite recording just one win, had the best team showing of any area school, finishing second with 154 points. Cooper won the team title with 170.5 points.
A perfect 10
While Randall and Lewis had big days for the boys, they weren’t the only locals to take home gold. A total of 10 boys wrestlers were winners.
Tascosa finished fourth in the team standings with 123.5 points and had three winners. Thomas Pacheco (144) beat Lubbock High’s Jaxon Russell 8-4, Landin Lamberth (157) beat Fort Worth Benbrook’s Landry Wilkinson 7-3 and Jaxon Johnson ended the day at 285 by pinniing Azle’s Devin Wingfield in 4:20.
Amarillo High finished fifth in the team standings with 118.5 points. Drezdyn Ballard was the lone winner for Amarillo High, winning at 165 by pinning Tascosa’s Jace Castillo in 35 seconds, the quickest win of the day.
Hunter Bogner of Dumas won at 138 by beating Azle’s Chase Yancey 20-3 via technical fall. Bogner won state last year at 132.