Bakersfield College: A new year and a new coach for Bakersfield College. New Coach Brett Clark, will be working with a really young squad and trying to become one of the elite teams in the state in the near future. The team leader is Dillan Harroun (Tehachapi H.S) who finished 5th in the state last season for the Renegades at 174 pounds.
Coach Clark expects big things from 2012 state qualifier Cesar Luna (West Bakersfield H.S) at 165 pounds and Jack Murphy (Frontier H.S) at 195 pounds. Many tough redshirts and incoming freshman will fill gaps and challenge for varsity spots.
Sacramento City: It will be a tough task to defend our State Championship as we lost 10 of the 12 wrestlers who competed in the post season for us, while Fresno has seven or eight returning medalists. With that said, we have a very good returning crew and a good group of incoming wrestlers. - Said, Coach Pacheco.
They will bring back two returning state medalists, one who earned All American status– Albert Landeros who finished in 4th place at 125 pounds. He had a solid season with 33 wins and looks to be the one carrying the team on his shoulders. Also returning is state medalist Logan Paxton. He finished 7th at 285 pounds. Although a 197 pounder, he was bumped up to fill a void. He did not disappoint as he just missed a chance at All American, losing in triple overtime to eventual 3rd place finisher. He will probably go back down to 197 for this season.
Other returning wrestlers who could help the Panther team are Anthony Locke (133), Tou Vang (133/141), Matt Bettencourt (141/149), Adam Busch (157/ 165), Dylan Forzani (165), Alex Hempstead (174), Kendahl Richmond (184), and Mark Papish (197).
Forzani was ranked at one point last season at 165 and took 3rd place at the tough Meathead Movers Tournament at Cuesta College as well as 6th at the West Hills Tourney. Seven of his 15 wins were by fall. Richmond also broke into the rankings last year by placing 2nd at West Hills and 5th at three other tournaments. If not for his own team, Richmond may have been far higher come post season. Six of his first eight losses came at the hands of teammate. All of those were sophomores who are now going off to the 4 year programs.
Papish and Busch both placed twice, once a 4th and once a 5th. They should improve on these performances this season.
Both Locke and Vang picked up one 5th place finish in limited time last season and should prove to be much better this year.
Sacramento City has a few freshmen and sophomore red-shirts in the mix as well. Look for these guys to help the Panthers after one year of being in the wrestling room: Ali Atebar (174); Cesar Garcia (285); Joey Beard (174); Josh Plotzke (125); Jacob Richards (285); and Chris Vaughan (133/141).
Leading the way for newcomers are Brian Sergi out of College Park HS. Brian won the California HS State Championship in 2012. He attended Appalachian State out of HS but an injury ended his season during his red shirt. He should be a great benefit for the Panthers at 149.
SCC have a handful of California state qualifiers coming in as well. These include: Juan Garza - 125 (Oakdale H.S – 2013); Kalan Hastey – 174 (Wheatland H.S); and Devon Lyle – 133 (Liberty H.S), Lake Gee – 141 (Las Plumas H.S); Jordan Marinelli –197 (Ponderosa H.S); Bishane Sagal – 197/285 – (Oak Ridge H.S); Evan Shelley – – 157/165 (Vista Del Lago H.S); Amrit Singh– 2013 – 184/197 (West Tracy H.S); and Isaiah Smith 157/165(Orland H.S).
Also looking very sharp in the room early on are Connecticut state Champions Dylan Bryant (149) and Chris Bryant (141). Dylan red-shirted a year at Division III, Springfield College while his brother Chris is a true freshman. Both are looking very good in the early going.
Pictures shown here are of Dustin Kirk of Cerritos College,
William H. Gockel-Figge of Fresno City College, Josh Cortez and George Sakkas of Cuesta College.
Team Previews for the 2014 college season!!