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Dawgs 12th at California Coast Classic
Three of Ceres Highs 11 grapplers bring home hardware from Aptos HS
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Ceres High had three individuals place at the California Coast Classic, including Aiden Moore (pictured left), Frankie Mendez and John Alba. - photo by Contributed to the Courier

Ceres High's varsity wrestling squad had a program-best seven grapplers advance to the second day of the California Coast Classic this past week at Aptos High School.

The Bulldogs also set a team record for individual placers with three.

"We just keep improving every year," Ceres High head coach Steve Festa said. "I expect all of our guys to compete and be on the podium. We're pushing the kids to meet their potential."

Frankie Mendez, Aiden Moore, John Alba, Conner Johnson, Luis Camarillo, Diego Diaz and Jaden Cooper helped lead the Bulldogs to a respectable 12th-place showing at the 66-team event on Wednesday.

Clovis (282), Liberty (178.5), Madera (166.5), Golden Valley (151) and Pitman (128.5) finished first, second and third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Western Athletic Conference-rival Los Banos (34.5) took 41st.

"We had no representatives in five of the 14 weight classes," Festa said. "We competed with what we had. We were as high as fifth going into the placing rounds the second day. The guys wrestled tough."

Frankie, Aiden and John all brought home hardware from the tournament.

Mendez compiled a 4-2 record en route to a fourth-place finish in the 106-pound weight division.

Frankie collected wins against Enochs' Levi Lemus (pin), Aptos' April Moreno (pin), Watsonville's Joaquin Mosqueda (decision) and Madera's Cristian Solorio (pin).

Moore (170s, 4-2) placed fifth.

Aiden collected wins against Los Banos' Cody Buttles (pin), Liberty's Troy Farris (decision), Lincoln's Joe Park (pin) and Cosumnes Oaks' Sam Adame (decision).

Alba (152s, 4-3) took sixth.

John collected wins against Lincoln's Luke Jessup (pin), Atascadero's Zeke Dubios (major decision), Enochs' Marcus Rossetto (pin) and Madera's Nathan Alvarado (pin).

Conner Johnson (195s, 3-2), Luis Camarillo (132s, 3-2), Diego Diaz (182s, 2-2) and Jaden Cooper (145s, 2-2) all scored points for the Bulldogs despite not placing in their respective brackets.

Conner collected wins against Golden Valley's Jose Arizmendi (pin), Half Moon Bay's Pedro Nic-novelo (pin) and Madera's Rangel Miranda (pin).

Luis collected wins against Cupertino's Ryan Marks (pin), Pleasant Grove's Marcus Curry (major decision) and San Lorenzo's Brendan Fitzgerald (pin).

Diego collected wins against Atascadero's Logan Armstrong (pin) and Aptos' Christopher Ibanez (pin).

Jaden collected wins against Aptos' Christian Olson (pin) and Leigh's top-seeded Leland Ledger (decision).

Cooper lost to Everett Alvarez's Jakobie Chaboya (6-4) and Harbor's Jesse Castillo (15-14) by a combined three points.

Ceres High's David Carvalho (170s, 2-2), Andrew Gibson (182s, 2-2), Isai Anguiano (182s, 0-2) and Michael Vargas (120s, 0-2) also competed at the Coast Classic.

Ceres High grapplers wrestled 49 times in a two-day span.

"It was mentally and physically grueling," Festa said. "There were no easy matches. We'll take the wins and losses and move forward."