The time has come. For seven Oakdale High School wrestlers, the hard work and dedication has paid off. For the seven, their long journey has one more stop for a chance at gold, as they will travel to Bakersfield for the CIF California State Wrestling Championships. Representing the Mustangs at the state competition Feb. 22 through 24 are Eziequel Vela, Jesse Meza, Gideon Gerber, Carlos Garcia, Wes Burford, Elias Corona and Emilio Johnson.

All earned their way to Bakersfield based on their placement at the two-day Masters Meet, Feb. 16 and 17, at Stockton Arena.

Vela was crowned the 126-pound champion. He defeated Robert Villa, Anthony Cruz (Folsom) Wyatt Sandoval (Vacaville), Nicolas Bulanin (Elk Grove) and in the finals he defeated Saint Mary’s Kyle Holtberg.

Meza battled his way to a sixth-place finish amongst the 132-pound wrestlers. Meza defeated Jake Locke of Turlock, but suffered a loss to Whitman’s Kaleb Rodgers and in the fifth-sixth place match he lost to Nic Spotswood of Folsom.

Gerber placed fourth in the 157-pound bracket. He defeated Jason Quinanez (Tokay), Dennis Warden (Union Mine) and Anthony Ortega (Linden). He lost to Carson Howell (Vacaville) and Noah Daniels (Sheldon).

Garcia finished in third place in the 165-pound bracket. He defeated David Ormonde (Tracy), Konley Cova (Whitland) and Jordan Ford (Elk Grove). He lost to Arjun Nagra of Vacaville. Garcia bounced back to defeat Alex Webster (Folsom) to place third overall.

Burford placed third in the 190-pound bracket. He defeated Omar Morals (Gregori), Breyden Rush (Del Oro) and Carter Vannest (Pitman). Burford fell to Brokton Borelli (Los Banos). He defeated Scott Beadles (Calaveras) to place third overall.

Corona captured the 215-pound championship. On the way to his title, he went through Jake Malera (Lincoln), Max Keough (Bel Vista), Gage Fernandez (Inderkum), Vaea Salt (Wil C. Wood) and Elijah Watson (Turlock).

Johnson placed fourth overall amongst the 285-pound wrestlers. He defeated Ezra Cremo (Vacaville) and Gabe Fernandez (Elk Grove). He ended his weekend with a pair of losses against Armijo’s Kendrick Salcido. He lost to Salcido in the quarterfinals and then again in the third-place match.

As a team, Oakdale placed second overall with 197.0 points. Vacaville placed first at 230.5. Rounding out the top five were Folsom (184.0), Pitman (155.5) and Del Oro (153.5).