Watsonville High wrestler Joaquin Mosqueda won the title at 134 pounds at the Pacific Coast Athletic League Mission division championships Friday night at Watsonville High.
Fellow teammates Vicente Mosqueda (128 pounds) and Mauricio Mendez (222) also won titles in their respective weight class. Mathew Flores (197) placed second and teammate Rigo Cruz (140) took third.
Watsonville placed fourth with 85 points, while Alisal High (194) won the seven-team event.
The Central Coast Section on Sunday held its seeding meeting. Mosqueda will be the No. 3 seed at 132 pounds at this weekend’s wrestling championships at Independence High in San Jose.
“I’m excited for Joaquin [Mosqueda] because I thought he would’ve gotten like a fourth spot,” said Watsonville coach Josh Castillo. “But if everything goes right the top three go to state.”
Castillo also mentioned that Mosqueda should be expected to square off against Serra High’s Charles Matthews, who’s a two time West Catholic Athletic League champ.
“We were able to face [Matthews] twice this year and I feel very comfortable this third time we should take it,” Castillo said. “But at the same time [Mosqueda’s] got to go out there and compete. He hasn’t earned that ticket yet.”
Junior Michelle Gomez (160) will enter the CCS championships as the No. 5 seed. Castillo said he was disappointed that Gomez didn’t earn a higher seed.
“It all comes down to her, she has to wrestle her tail off and beat some people that she’s not supposed to. Make a name for herself,” Castillo said.
Valeria Ramirez (131) of North Monterey County High earned the No. 5 seed.
PCAL Cypress
St. Francis High senior Isaac Davila won the heavyweight division title at the PCAL Cypress division championships on Thursday at Gonzales High.
Sharks coach Nick Guerrero said he thought Davila wrestled with a lot of passion and that he was focused throughout the tournament.
“It was nice to have [Davila] reach that milestone,” Guerrero said. “He’s never won a league title before, so that’s good.”
Freshman Armando Ramirez (222) can possibly get into the CCS championships as an alternate, Guerrero said.
PCAL Gabilan
Monte Vista Christian School junior Nate Fernandez (222) placed second at the PCAL Gabilan division championships at Gilroy High on Saturday.
He earned a No. 4 seed in the 220-pound weight class at the upcoming CCS championships.
Fernandez, a top seed in the tourney, was injured and he wasn’t able to complete his match in the finals against Gilroy High sophomore Josh Cortez.
The Mustangs placed sixth with 46 points, while Gilroy won the title with 274 points.
M.V.C.’s Will Murray (184) placed fourth, followed by Ibbie Peters (115), Seth Oliver (122), Ian Goodwin (128) and Corydon Lindner (154) who each took fifth in their respective weight classes.
SCCAL
Aptos High senior Luke Keaschall earned a Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League crown–his second straight–at 162 pounds at the league championships at Aptos High on Friday.
Keaschall, who is also a star baseball player for the Mariners, pinned Harbor High’s Nico Vazquez in the final.
Aptos crowned four additional champions: Andrew Acevedo (108), James Platero (184), Cade Crowley (197) and Levi Slay (222), who earned an 18-2 technical fall against Daniel Felix of Santa Cruz High.
Santa Cruz won the SCCAL Championships with 67 points. Aptos (54) was second, followed by Harbor (33), SLV (24), Soquel (20) and Scotts Valley (20).
On the girls side, Camila Barranco (111) earned the No. 2 seed for the CCS championships, while Alex Quintero (160) earned a No. 3 seed.
