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Bakersfield dreams remain alive for 37 local wrestlers after divisional, regional meets
Pitman boys and girls claim more blue banners
Pitman v Turlock wrestling
Pitman’s Mason Ontiveros trips up Turlock’s Jack Locke in the 146-pound final of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D-2 Divisional Tournament on Saturday at Bulldog Arena. Ontiveros went on to win a 10-1 major decision to be one of eight boys champions for the Pride (CANDY PADILLA/The Journal).

Another week, another pair of CIF Sac-Joaquin Section banners collected by the Pitman High School wrestling program.

On Saturday on the campus of Turlock High, the Pride saw 19 grapplers qualify for this weekend’s Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Tournament. With eight male and four female champions, they accumulated enough points at the boys’ Division II sub-section meet and the girls’ South Regional tournament to claim each team title.

The boys claimed their blue banner with 311.5 points. Second-place Ponderosa posted 216. Meanwhile, the girls finished ahead of Escalon by 25.5 with a total of 207.5 points. It is the first time any local wrestling program has collected four section titles in the same year, largely because of the fact that this was the first season in which the Sac-Joaquin Section held a tournament for female duals.

Pitman girls wrestling
The Pitman High girls wrestling team celebrates winning the South Regional tournament on Saturday (Photo contributed).

Champions for the Pride at the D-2 Divisional were RJ Wilharm (128), Edward Sheeran (140), Mika Ontiveros (146), Isaac Padilla (152), Brodie Johnson (167), Mason Ontiveros (177), Jeremiah Mora (217) and Troy Ceja (HWT). 

The 146-pound final was an all-Turlock affair, with Ontiveros facing off with the Bulldog’s Jack Locke. Ontiveros muscled a 10-1 major decision over Locke. They each won two of their first three matches of the day by fall.

Locke was one of six Bulldogs at divisionals to qualify for Masters with finishes in the top eight. Joining him were Cole Cronan (4th-115), Shane Petty (5th-159), Levi Cook (5th-217), Jaden Perez (6th-128) and Gage Barletta (7th-122). Also qualifying for Pitman were runners-up Gave Camacho (108), Xadian Padilla (159) and Carter Vannest (192), as well as 134-pounder Ethan Lopez, who earned sixth.

Over at Central Valley High School in Ceres, it was Lily Dizon (100), Gabby Austin (125), Baya Austin (140) and Annebella Austin (235) who stood atop their respective podiums. 

Like Ontiveros, Dizon had to grapple with a Bulldog to earn her title, facing off with Turlock’s Aliah Bertalotto for the third time in the past four weeks. Like at the end-of-regular season dual and at last week’s Central California Athletic League championships, Dizon won by fall.

Pitman boys wrestling 2
Pitman’s Jeremiah Mora drags down Bella Vista’s Max Keough in the championship round of Saturday’s CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D-2 Divisional Tournament. Mora pulled out a 4-2 decision (CANDY PADILLA/The Journal).

Pitman’s Melanie Delgado (110) and Patricia Bray (115) each qualified with second-place finishes, as well as teammates Alina Dizon (7th-130). Joining Bertalotto in representing the Bulldogs this weekend will be McKenna Beavers (7th-140), Haylee Whiting (8th-115) and Leah Marshall (8th-235). Also punching their tickets to Masters was Hilmar’s Nora Jorge (3rd-130), Sophia Azevedo (7th-115) and Arely Ambriz (7th-190), as well as Denair’s Brianna Thomas (8th-170).

Over at Calaveras High School in San Andreas, the Hughson program qualified three at the Division V sub-section. Landon Mason was the highlight, claiming the 138-pound title. 

Unlike at the higher boys divisions and at the girls regionals, Division V schools must have student-athletes finish in the top four of their respective brackets to qualify for the Masters. The Huskies had a pair of runners-up to join Mason in qualifying —  Xavier Hernandez (165) and Caden Bowerman (126). With four other wrestlers finishing in the top six, the Huskies finished third in the team standings, 26 points behind champion Escalon. 

Hilmar’s Jake Nunes will join the 36 other wrestlers from the surrounding local schools thanks to his fourth-place finish at 106 pounds.

The Sac-Joaquin Section Masters will take place on Friday and Saturday from Adventist Health Arena, formerly known as Stockton Arena. Action each day gets underway at 9 a.m. Grapplers, both boys and girls, will have to place in the top five of their respective weight classes to qualify for the CIF State Championships at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield from Feb. 27 to March 1.