MVAL comes up empty-handed

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Mar 3, 2007 | by Steve R. Waterhouse

BAKERSFIELD -- Four Mission Valley Athletic League wrestlers qualified for the CIF State Championships at Rabobank Arena.

After the first of the two-day tournament that began Friday, none qualified for the second day of the double-elimination tournament.

"Im (mad) after losing," James Logan High's Colin Malcolm said after suffering a 2-1 loss in the second round to Merced's Chris Urquizo that dropped him into the consolations. "My goal was to be a state champion."

Malcolm, the 140-pounder, who was the MVALs lone North Coast Section champion, would bounce back with a 3-0 win over A.J. Meadows of Yucaipa.

Malcolm needed to win one more match after that to qualify for the second day. Unfortunately, he found himself up against the top- ranked 140-pounder in the state and suffered a 9-3 loss to Steven De La Fuente of Northview.

"Im disappointed because I didn't accomplish what I wanted to," Malcolm said. "I did the best I could, and I didn't get the end result I wanted."

Malcolm looked great after claiming an 8-2 win over Sal Castillo of South Hills to open the tournament, which continues today with fifth-round consolations at 9 a.m. Semifinals are scheduled for 9:30 p.m., and the finals will be on one mat starting at 7:15 p.m.

In the team race, Buchanan leads with 85 points. Poway is second with 83. Buchanan has two wrestlers in todays semifinals and six in the consolations. Poway has two semifinalists and four consolation wrestlers.

A disappointed Malcolm said he's going to stick around for today's matches and has hopes of wrestling in college -- though he's not sure which college yet.

Malcolm was one of three Logan wrestlers to make state.

Senior Adrian Gomez (130) went 1-2 and was eliminated, Though it wasn't for lack of effort.

"I have no regrets about this year," Gomez said. "I worked my hardest and fulfilled one of my goals (to make state). This makes me want to wrestle more and more. This kind of event makes you hungry. I'm satisfied, but in some way, I'm not because I fell short of another goal (of making top eight)."

Gomez opened the tournament with a first-round bye. He then suffered a 17-2 technical-fall loss to Bobby Scofield of Dana Hills. After that he posted a 3-0 win over Freddy Gonzalez of East Bakersfield.

His tournament came to an end with a 4-0 loss to Daniel Gudino of Hesperia.

'Everyone works their tails off to be here," Gomez said. "The competition is tough."

At least two underclassmen got the experience they needed for next season.

Logan's Lawrence Blanco, a 103-pound sophomore, went 2-2. He suffered a first-round, 20-6 loss to Michael Vargas of Buena Park. After that, Blanco won two straight matches before being eliminated by Bryan Grubbs of La Costa Canyon, 6-0.

"I guess I have that experience, and that should help me out next year," Blanco said. "I just have to go harder. I'm going to have to push myself this offseason."

Blanco faced a familiar opponent in the second-round consolations when he was matched up against Newark Memorial's Nguyen Truong.

Truong suffered a 13-3 loss in the opening round to Erik Reyes of Temecula Valley. He dropped into the consolations, where was eliminated by Blanco in a 7-4 decision.

"I'm glad I got to wrestle here, but I'm kind of disappointed in myself," Truong said.