Masters Wrestling Notebook: Beyer’s Camacho makes history, Oakdale qualifies 11 for state
The excitement for wrestlers who qualify for the CIF State Meet can be summed up quite simply.
“It doesn’t feel real; it hasn’t registered.” said Beyer High junior Salana Camacho.
The Patriots have a rich wrestling history. The wrestling room walls are lined with the names of league champions, masters and state qualifiers, but one thing they haven’t had is a girl wrestler qualify for state.
Enter Camacho.
With her performance on the first day of the Masters Championship, she became the first female wrestler from Beyer to earn an appearance at the State Meet in Bakersfield.
Camacho went 4-1 at the Masters Tournament and fought through an ankle injury she suffered during her second match Saturday to earn third in the 235-pound weight class.
She qualified for the Masters Meet two years ago as a freshman but went 0-2. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit last season, making it hard for her to work out and impossible to compete.
“I just kept working, trying to get right again, after everything that was going on.” Camacho said.
It’s been a journey to the State meet, but she stayed consistent in her routine.
“Focusing on myself but a majority of the time making sure I work out every day, quality over quantity to try to make it as far as I can and try to make history.” said Camacho.
From the Masters, the top seven girls and six boys in each weight class qualify for state. The event starts Thursday, Feb. 24 and ends with the championships Saturday, Feb. 26 in Bakersfield.
Camacho, like many other wrestlers who will be visiting the city for the first time, will navigate road trips, hotel stays and time exploring the city.
“It is a business trip,” Camacho said. “But I’m pretty sure my parents are gonna want to try some food out there. Whatever is trending over there.
“I’m expecting top performances. There are going to be girls from all across California meeting at one place. We’re gonna be expecting tough wrestlers, technical wrestlers, wrestlers who have great strength, who are smart.”
She’s going in with a game plan.
“Make sure that I apply pressure and make sure I wrestle top tier, so we both get good quality wrestling in and (I will) shoot for the highest position possible.” she said.
Davis’ freshman standout: Freshman Jazmine Turner is soft-spoken in interviews, but when she’s on the mat against any other 101-pound wrestler in the section, her results speak for themselves.
Turner is the first female wrestler from Davis to win a Masters title and will head to this weekend’s State Meet.
In a sport where many athletes train their whole lives, Turner says she has been wrestling for only two years. She credits her brother Demarcus, a sophomore who also qualified for the Masters, for getting her interested. He was the typical older brother. She practiced against him, but he didn’t take it easy on her. She says it helped her in Saturday’s match.
“He would pick on me, but I think it made me stronger.” Jazmine Turner said.
How does the accomplishment feel?
“It feels great,” she said. “It was a lot of hard work, but I got here.”
“Record setting” match from Oakdale wrestler: Before people standing behind the rope at the 126-pound championship match could take out their phones to record, it was over.
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo signee Michael Torres won the Masters title Saturday by fall in nine seconds.
“Right when the whistle blew, I went for a single leg,” Torres said. I felt his head down and went for a wizard. I reached out, locked up a cradle and it was over from then.”
Torres’ fastest pin came at the right time, the biggest stage in the Sac-Joaquin Section competing against California’s 25th ranked wrestler, Robert Lopez of West.
It isn’t known if that is a Masters record, but Torres says he’s claiming it.
“I asked the people at the front table if there’s an official record for that and they said “oh I don’t know,’” Torres said. “The guy next to me said to just say yeah, so, I claim the title.”
Torres is excited to team up with his brother, who wrestles at Cal Poly, next season, but first, Bakersfield. He is one of the 11 wrestlers the Mustangs will take to the State Meet.
Pitman girls finish top two in weight classes: Pitman sent two female wrestlers to the Masters Championship, juniors Lillian Avalos and Alana Ontiveros.
Ontiveros finished the weekend undefeated and won the Masters title in the 143 weight class, beating Dafne Guadarrama of Franklin.
Avalos went 3-1 on the weekend, falling in the title match to Elena Ivaldi from Del Oro
Not only did they have a great showing at the section’s Masters Championships, they also qualified for the State Meet.
Gregori qualifies record number for state: Mike Cantwell has coached wrestling at Gregori since the school opened in 2012 and after qualifying 11 for the Masters tournament, he will take a record number to State this weekend.
Seven of the 11 advanced to day two of the Masters and four will be heading to Bakersfield.
Mikala Lancaster finished second in the 150-pound weight class and will compete at State with teammates Natalie Sutherlin (170), Elijah Montez (132) and Jonathan Crespin (152). Ashley Dumas barely missed the seventh spot and final girls’ qualifying spot in 101, finishing eighth.
“In the history of Gregori High School, this is the most kids we’ve had qualify for the state tournament,” Cantwell said. “Before this, we’ve had one girl and one boy for a total of two. This year, we’ve got four, two boys and two girls.”
Top-10 matchup for 106 title: Central Catholic’s Victor Ramirez, Jr. and Vacaville’s Isaiah Kainoa Medina battled for the Masters 106 title.
Ramirez, Jr., a junior, is the seventh ranked wrestler in California and Medina, a senior, is second.
Ramirez, Jr.’s only loss came in the championship as Medina won by major decision.
Central Catholic will send two boys wrestlers to the State Meet Ramirez, Jr. and Kekoa Ogawa who finished fourth in the 113-pound class.
Overall team scores: Vacaville finished first with a score of 341. Oakdale’s final score was 268, good for second overall. Vacaville qualified 12 wrestlers for the state tournament and had seven first-place winners at the Masters Meet.
Of Oakdale’s 11 state qualifiers, Torres, Carlos Garcia (160-pound weight class) and Ceasar Garza (170-pound weight class) won masters titles.
Gregori finished 15th. Cantwell says it is the team’s “best finish in a long time.”
Turlock (102.5 points) and Central Catholic (56 points) also finished in the top 15.
