Grateful to finally be healthy, Oakdale senior Ryan wins Masters championship

Jake Ryan finally captured the elusive Sac-Joaquin Section Masters championship he’s been chasing since his freshman year.

The Oakdale High senior defeated Oak Ridge’s Jackson Redhair 9-2 in the 145-pound final to win the title on Saturday afternoon at Stockton Arena.

“He’s finally had a full year of wrestling,” said Oakdale coach Steven Strange, as he quickly knocked on wood. “He’s been healthy.”

Ryan’s high school career has been full of trips to the operating room.

The Mustangs star tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his knee during his freshman season.

The injury kept him out until January of his sophomore season. Ryan’s sophomore year was then cut short when he tore the lateral collateral ligament in his other knee.

The summer before his junior year, he tore his rotator cuff. Ryan returned from that injury during the final regular season tournament and managed to finish third at Masters last season and advance to state.

“This year has been awesome,” Ryan said, “It’s been a privilege to go onto the mat and compete at a high level.”

Ryan has risen to No. 3 in the state and heads to the state meet next week with momentum.

“Every since I was a freshmen, I’ve expected to win (Masters),” Ryan said. “My sophomore year I expect to win it. My junior year I gave away a bad match. This has been a long time coming.”

It was strong showing my Ryan and his Oakdale teammates. The Mustangs sent five wrestlers into the finals and finished second in the team race to Vacaville.

Teammates Gabe Martinez (170 pounds) and Colbey Harlan (195) also came away with Masters championships. Ricky Torres (120) and Ricky Torres (138) finished second.

“It was a good team performance,” Strange said. “There were a few disappointments, but overall a really good performance.”

In all, 10 Stanislaus District wrestlers reached the finals.

Golden Valley sophomore Caydin Wickard won the 113-pound title with an 11-5 win over Del Oro’s Dallas Stevens.

Wickard will now take aim at his ultimate goal of winning a state championship this week in Bakersfield. He came into the Masters championship ranked No. 7 in the state and improved his record to 47-3 on the season.

It’s a goal he’s never shied away from. He’s always had big goals since stepping on the mat.

"I’m going to give it my all," Wickard said. "I want to win it all this year and I’m going to do everything I can to do that. If it doesn’t happen, I’ll just wrestling the best I can."

Pitman’s Isaiah Perez won his first Masters title after coming close during his high school career.

Perez defeated Calaveras’ Victor Moore with a second-round pin.

Perez had finished fifth his freshman season, fourth his sophomore year and second as a junior.

Turlock senior Breck Jeffus came away with the 182-pound title with an 11-8 win over Folsom’s Kyle Richards in the finals.

Jeffus’ journey to the Masters championship was similar to Ryan’s in that it was filled with injuries throughout his career.

A thumb injury sidelined him his freshman and junior year.

Jeffus secured three nearfall points in the final seconds to get the win in the finals.

“When I first got him down, I squeezed as hard as I could,” Jeffus said. “I could feel him let up with about 10 seconds left. I could feel his body go limp. When he gave up I eased up on him with about 3 seconds. left. It feels really good to win.”

This story was originally published February 24, 2018 at 9:33 PM with the headline "Grateful to finally be healthy, Oakdale senior Ryan wins Masters championship."