Drama in final seconds – Golden Valley’s Wickard is girls Masters champ

Adreyana Wickard chose her route, the one less traveled these days by high school girls wrestlers.

The Golden Valley junior competed against the boys for most of the season. The results of her decision were seen Saturday at the Sac-Joaquin Section Girls Masters Championships.

The consensus: Smart call.

Wickard, trailing by a point in her 108-pound title match, summoned all of her strength for the clutch takedown with five seconds left for a dramatic 6-5 win over Jenna Bacich of Bear Creek. Wickard is a Masters champion and will compete in the CIF Girls Wrestling Championships in Visalia on Friday and Saturday.

“Wrestling against the boys made me stronger and gave me more stamina,” Wickard said. “They pushed me really hard.”

Wickard, who reached the title match via three victories by fall, survived a near-fall and answered with a reversal to tie it at 4-4. An escape point in the third round again put her behind, however, and she needed some last-second magic.

To find it, Wickard drew on the expertise from her coach – her father, Josh, the Golden Valley assistant coach. He wasn’t at McNair High on Saturday (he monitored the boys at the D-I AA divisional at Pitman), but his encouragement wasn’t lost on his daughter.

“I was thinking of my father all the time,” Wickard said. “I knew he would be telling me late in the match that I didn’t get here for nothing and that I earned my spot. ... I felt her (Bacich) sitting on her butt, so I went for it.”

The top five in each weight class extended their season. The two-day meet produced thrills, some by Atwater junior Courtney Juarez (172).

The two-time state medalist pinned three consecutive opponents before she was beaten via first-round fall by Alexis Cavero of Tokay.

Also winning three consecutive matches to reach the final was Golden Valley senior Kiana Hart (133), who was pinned in the second round by Candice Corralejo of Del Oro.

Livingston junior Alondra Zamora (128) worked hard for her third-place medal. She lost her first-round match 2-1, then won five in a row, four by fall.

Zamora leads a trio of teammates to Visalia. Angelique Baptista (103) complicated her meet by losing her opening match but recovered by taking four of five for fourth place. Baptista, beaten 5-4 by Elk Grove’s Karly Scott, avenged that loss by pinning her in consolation. Livingston also will send Natalie Perez (113) to state. Perez won the fifth-place match – the Masters’ win-or-go-home round – by decision.

This story was originally published February 19, 2017 at 5:13 PM with the headline "Drama in final seconds – Golden Valley’s Wickard is girls Masters champ."