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Five Mustangs Take Medals At State Wrestling Meet
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One of five medalists for Oakdale at the State Wrestling Meet, senior Valerie Osborne was a fourth place finisher in the girls division at 170 pounds, earning three wins in the weekend competition. Photo By Dave Campbell

This past weekend the most talented high school wrestlers in the state of California faced off at the 2019-2020 CIF State Wrestling Championships. The event was held at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield and began on Thursday. By the end of the day Saturday, Feb. 29 eight wrestlers from each weight class left with medals.

Five medalists that placed were from Oakdale High School. As a team Oakdale finished in 14th place with 57.5 total points. First place went to Buchanan with 261.0.

Michael Torres (106); Brayden Abell (113); Ceasar Garza (145); and Seth Borba (152) all placed and returned to Oakdale as state placers from the boys tournament, as did Valerie Osborne (170), bringing home a medal from the girls tournament.

Torres, a sophomore, defeated Isaiah Medina a sophomore from Vacaville 3-2 to place seventh overall. Torres went 4-2 in the tournament. He defeated Dylan McDonald of Lemoore and Adrean Ledezma of Roosevelt after having a bye in the first round. In the quarterfinals, Torres lost to Dominic Mendez of Righetti 3-2.

Abell, a junior, placed sixth overall as he lost to freshman Dario Lemus of Clovis in the medal round. He defeated sophomore Justin Rodriguez of Palm Desert 5-0 and senior Zach Ramos of Olympian by fall and lost to Joey Cruz of Clovis North in the quarterfinals by major decision 23-12.

Garza, a sophomore, placed seventh overall by defeating sophomore Oscar Aranda of St. John Bosco 3-2 in the medal round. In the quarterfinals Garza fell to Jaden Le of Ranch Bernardo 3-0. Garza earned early round wins over Felix Osorio of Santa Fe by fall and Adar Schwarzbach of Palo Alto.

Borba, a junior, defeated Tye Monteiro of Garces in the medal round to place seventh overall. He earlier defeated senior Juan Chiquito of Hesperia but fell to senior Rocky Raby of West Valley in the third round. Borba kept his medal hopes alive with a win over senior Joey Mora of Esperanza.

In the girls division, senior Valerie Osborne came home with a state medal as she defeated Veronica Palmer of Bonita, Lily El-Masir of San Marin and BoaAhn Duncan-Perez of Clovis to earn a fourth place finish.

Other Mustang that made the state tournament but did not place were freshman Jonathan Hernandez at 120 pounds, and junior Clayton Bashor at 126.