For 42 years Oakdale High School has hosted one of the premier wrestling tournaments, the James Riddle Classic. This past Saturday, Dec. 9, the Mustangs not only hosted the tournament, they dominated it. With eight first place finishers Oakdale continues to be recognized as a powerhouse wrestling program across the state.

As a team Oakdale scored a tournament high 321 team points to finish first overall in the team standings; Ponderosa finished second with 177.5 points. First place finishers for Oakdale were Brayden Abell (106); Clayton Bashor (113); Henry Porter (126); Ricky Torres (145); Jake Ryan (152); Gabe Martinez (170); Cody Golding (182) and Colbey Harlan (195). Dustin Chavez (132) and Seth Borba (138) placed second in their weight classes.

Abell battled his way to first place with a 7-2 finals victory. Bashor made short work of his finals opponent with a 10-2 major decision. In his finals match, Porter went up 18-11 in the third period and finished with a late third period pin fall. Torres won via 15-3 major decision. Ryan won via a first period pin. Martinez also won his finals match with a second period pin fall. In a dramatic finals match, Golding held on for a 5-4 victory. Harlan won his match and took first place thanks to a second period pin.

Oakdale’s grapplers hit the road for a two day tournament in Reno, competing at the Reno Tournament of Champions on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 15 and 16.