Ten Oakdale High School wrestlers qualified for the CIF State Wrestling Championship and four of them brought home medals. The three-day tournament began on Thursday, Feb 21 at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield. Making the trip were: Brayden Abell, Clayton Bashor, Henry Porter, Gabe Martinez, Ricky Torres, Ceasar Garza, Michael Torres, Seth Borba, Cody Golding and Faalia Martinez. Bringing home medals were Abell, Porter and Martinez for the boys, Martinez placed in the female bracket.
Porter, a two-time state qualifier, finished third overall in the 132-pound division. The sophomore went 2-0 to start the tournament. He defeated Bradley Chirino 14-4 and then pinned Brenden Johnson. Porter suffered a 6-5 loss to Jose Fernandez III of Upper Lake but did not lose sight of becoming a state medalist. He rattled off four straight wins in the consolation bracket to place third overall. Along the way he defeated Chaz Hallmark, Josh Medina, Marco Polanco and Giano Petruelli.
Abell, also a two-time state qualifier, finished fourth in the 106-pound division. He started the tournament off with three straight wins. Abell defeated Sean Solis of Fountain Valley 1-0. He followed up with a dominant major decision over Francisco Alcantar of Nipomo 17-0. A 5-2 victory over Devin Garcia of James Logan set up Abell into the semifinals. However, he fell to Richard Figueroa of Selma 3-0. Figueroa was eventually crowned champion. In the consolation rounds Abell responded with a 6-0 victory over Fernando Barreto of Rowland. In his third place match, Abell suffered a 5-4 loss to Andre Gonzales of Poway to bring home the fourth place medal.
Senior Gabe Martinez, a four-time state qualifier, ended his final championship tournament as an eighth place finisher. Martinez competes at 170 pounds. He began the tournament with back-to-back pin fall victories. However in the third round, Martinez fell to the eventual champion, Trey Munoz of Trabuco Hills via pin fall. In the consolation bracket Martinez picked up an 11-4 victory over Sean Myles but lost his next match 5-4 to Daniel Long of Dinuba. Long went on to place fourth.
Representing the female wrestlers was Faalia Martinez. She placed third overall with a 4-0 quarterfinals victory and 4-2 win in the consolation bracket after losing in the semifinals.
Senior Cody Golding finished his high school wrestling career with a 2-2 record. Golding had victories over Michael Mendivel of Bakersfield and Max Gipson of Sutter. Golding then fell to Peter Ming of Elk Grove, who went on to place fourth overall. His final match of the day came when he lost to Reagan Dahle of Big Valley, who placed fifth overall.
Freshman Michael Torres (113) went 0-2 in his debut at state. Sophomore Bashor (120) went 2-2 in his second state appearance. Freshman Garza (126) also went 2-2 over the weekend. Sophomore Borba (145), a first time qualifier, went 2-2.
As a team, Oakdale placed tenth overall scoring 233 team points. A total of 276 teams competed.
