The Tri-Community wrestling team, which included wrestlers from Mt. Vista and San Manuel Jr. High Schools, placed 9 of 12 wrestlers at the Coronado Team Dual Tournament, which took place two weeks ago.
As a team, Tri-Community won its pool, 3 – 0, and placed third overall.
Tri-Community defeated Marana (47 – 45), La Cima (58 – 5) and Cross (48 – 48, won tiebreaker).
Against Cross, Tri-Community trailed early, 24 – 6, before stringing together a number of pinned matches to tie the dual. It won the tiebreaker as a result of a greater number of pins.
“Out of the eight schools there we were definitely the smallest school there,” Tri-Community head coach Julian Rodriguez said. “Us being outnumbered and showing that we can compete with these bigger schools with what we have was the biggest accomplishment.
“All (of the) wrestlers wrestled great and showed a lot of heart, especially in times when we needed team points.”
Results are as follows:
First Place – Raymond Garcia (98), Tommy Morris (118) and Andres Rodriguez (180).
Second Place – Lucy Chavez (104), Elmer Smith (125) and Jakob Tafoya (133).
Third Place – Chad Martinez (78), Vicente Curry (111) and Richard Ivy (142).
Each of the nine placers is an eighth-grader, except Martinez, who is a sixth-grader.