Vista wrestling team places second at Jailbreak Duals

Vista del Lago's wrestling team is excited for a great season, and the team's showing at the Jailbreak Duals Saturday at Folsom High shows a lot of promise. The Eagles won four dual matches on their way to the finals, where they lost to perennial powerhouse Del Oro, 60-15. The Golden Eagles are ranked 14th in the state. On the way to the finals, the Eagles defeated Monterey Trail, 57-12, Chico, 38-36, El Capitan, 48-27, and Central, 32-25. Vista had three wrestlers undefeated on the day, as senior Lucas Olives (138) and juniors Kirk Magras (182) and Ryan Alvarado (145) won all of their matches. Olives earned all-tournament recognition for his performance. Magras wrestled up a weight class for four of those matches, before dropping down to his normal 170-pound division to pull out a come-from-behind win in his match against Del Oro. Alvarado is ranked 32nd in the state at 145 pounds. Senior Austin Walker (220) and junior Erik Johnson (160) both won four of their five matches, while sophomore Weston Ward (152) won all but one of his matches as well. Ward's only loss came against Eli Blake, the third-ranked wrestler in the state, while Johnson lost to Jed Campos, the 11th-ranked wrestler. Both of the losses came in the final dual against Del Oro. Senior Levi Burnett, currently ranked 32nd in the state at 138 pounds, also suffered a close, 9-7, loss to a highly-ranked wrestler from Del Oro. "We had another very successful week," Vista coach Frank Richmond said. "I am very pleased with how our wrestlers are performing. We had most of our lineup wrestling up a weight class and for them to still be as successful as they were is a good sign. We found a lot of kinks in our armor to work on too, but that is what competing is all about. "We have a special team again this year, and I think we will be turning heads again as these guys continue to improve. We're getting a little more respect in the rankings now, but still have several wrestlers hungry to earn their way to the state meet and a deep roster of varsity caliber wrestlers behind them waiting for their moment to step in and shine. As a coach right now, I couldn't be happier with the positive culture we have on our team." Vista's junior varsity wrestlers competed at Whitney High School on Saturday and four wrestlers came home with medals. Marco Romero and Evan Glines went undefeated and brought home gold medals, while Zach Rogado placed second and Dan Le finished fourth. The Eagles will be competing in the Sierra Nevada Classic in Reno this weekend.