At the end, multiple area wrestlers earned medals and places on the podium.
The Del Oro girls won the North Regional, with nine earning medals and advancing to Masters. Five of those nine medaled at Masters and moved on to state while the team took second in the tournament.
Freshman Kaiya Maggini had an impressive showing in her first state tournament, placing fourth at 101 pounds. While lamenting her final loss, Maggini maintained, “I feel like I wrestled pretty good. I’ve wrestled against people I haven’t before and I ‘ve done very well.”
Asked about her goals, she didn’t skip a beat, saying, “I’m going to win next year.”
The rest of the area’s females also worked hard, with returning state qualifiers sophomore Alex Maday of Whitney placing fifth at 137 pounds and junior Gemma Templeman placing fifth at 235.
Placer’s Breanna Packheiser was the lone wrestler from the hill to qualify for the state tournament. Packheiser wrestled well but fell to No. 5 seed Taira Sakamoto of Santa Monica in the first round at 116 pounds.
For the Del Oro boys, freshman Siraj Sidhu placed fifth at 106 and senior Issac Herrera placed seventh at 126.
The boys’ side was equally hard at work, with the Del Oro boys taking six wrestlers to the state tournament. Freshman Siraj Sidhu placed fifth at 106 pounds, while senior Issac Herrera placed seventh at the 126-weight class bracket.
Del Oro junior Jagger French won the Masters Tournament in the 132-pound weight class and went 2-2 at the state tournament, losing in the consolation round of eight. Senior Kainoa Acia placed second at Masters in the 195-pound weight class and lost in the quarterfinals at state after winning his first two matches. Junior Logan Banks and senior Chino Igarashi also competed at the state tournament for the Golden Eagles.
West Park High sophomore Kaden Obien is the first wrestler in school history to compete at the state tournament as he placed fifth at Masters in the 126-pound weight class to qualify. Obien went 3-2 in Bakersfield over the weekend before losing in the consolation round of eight.
Granite Bay High had two boys’ athletes compete at state, Levi Bussey and Benjamin Quilpa. Bussey is a sophomore and went 2-2 at state after finishing third in the 182-pound weight class at Masters. Quilpa is a senior and was 1-2 in Bakersfield after finishing sixth at Masters in the 132-pound weight class to qualify.
Whitney High sent junior Anthony Berg to the state tournament after... Click here to read full article
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