There's a great team race developing here at Rabobank Arena. Clovis lost a big chance to distance itself from Modesto-Central Catholic and Gilroy in the heavyweight semifinals, but Cougars 285-pounder Jonathen Zamora lost 6-5 to Central Catholic's Dominic Galas in that match.

That result gives Catholic another 11 points (semifinals of wrestling tournaments are where the big points are) and brings it within 8.5 points of Clovis, 106.5-98. The interesting thing is, Catholic has three finalists: Stephen Vasquez at 160, Louis Bland at 189 and Galas. Vasquez and Galas will be underdogs, Bland a big favorite. Clovis 130-pounder Stephen Weimer, Clovis' only finalist, has already lost six times this year to his opponent, Clovis-Buchanan's Justin Arredondo.

Gilroy has two finalists and is in third at 94. Of course, Clovis has seven wrestlers still racking up points in consolation brackets, compared to four for Central Catholic and three for Gilroy. So the difference could be there.

Poway, long a contender but never a winner of this tournament, was a close second after last night but lost its only semifinal match. Both Clovis and Poway have several wins this morning in consolation matches, but it will be difficult for Poway to catch the teams in front of it.

Bakersfield High is in 12th place with 50.5 points.

On an invidual level, here's a complete list of tonight's state wrestling championships:j

103 pounds — Zach Zimmer, Clovis West, vs. Gilberto Camacho, Fresno-Washington Union
112 — MarkJay Acosta, San Leandro, vs. David Klingsheim, Brentwood-Liberty
119 — Brandon Rocha, Lemoore, vs. Martin Gonzalez, Gilroy
125 — Kody Klaus, Vacaville, vs. Angel Garcia, San Dimas
130 — Stephen Weimer, Clovis, vs. Justin Arredondo, Clovis-Buchanan
135 — Kyle West, El Dorado Hills-Oak Ridge, vs. Vinny Pisani, Orange-El Modena
140 — Vlad Dombroski, Sacramento-Natomas, vs. David Watts, Visalia-El Diamante
145 — Travis Rasmussen, Bakersfield, vs. Andrew Balch, Clovis-Buchanan
152 — Anthony Meza, Vista, vs. James Cook, Clovis West
160 — Steven Vasquez, Modesto-Central Catholic, vs. Jason Welch, Walnut Creek-Las Lomas
171 — Jake Meredith, Temecula Valley, vs. Hunter Collins, Gilroy
189 — Louis Bland, Modesto-Central Catholic, vs. Phil Brandt, Fresno-Bullard
215 — Josh Boger, Coalinga, vs. Rudi Burtschi, Oakdale
285 — Roger McCovey, Crescent City-Del Norte, vs. Dominic Galas, Modesto-Central Catholic

— Posted by Zach Ewing

It wasn't the most eventful match in the world, but that's how Travis Rasmussen likes it.

The Bakersfield High 145-pounder will be the first Kern County wrestler in a state championship in two years tonight after he beat Taylor Hodel of Vacaville 2-0 in a semifinal a few minutes ago.

Rasmussen got a takedown in the first 30 seconds of the match, using a duck-under and popping out on top of Hodel. He rode him out for the first period, picked bottom and couldn't get out in the second (Hodel was warned for stalling once). Then Hodel picked bottom but Rasmussen rode him out, nearly turning him a couple of times.

Meanwhile, Peter Gonzalez of East just won his consolation quarterfinal despite an injury to his left shoulder. He held on to beat Fabian Garcia of Turlock 4-3. Now he'll have a chance in the consolation semifinals, where a win puts him in the third-place match. A loss, and he'll wrestle for fifth.

Jonah Cruz is about to begin his consolation quarterfinal at 140. Centennial's John Musquez lost a tough 6-4 decision in his Cinderella match at 171.

— Posted by Zach Ewing

Arvin coach Miguel Sanchez told me earlier this week not to be surprised if his 103-pounder, Edgar Diaz, made a run at a state championship this weekend. He said Diaz is the kind of guy who deserves everything he'll get because of how hard he's worked.

Yeah, but coach, I said, Edgar only took fourth at last weekend's Central Section Masters. How's he supposed to win a state title?

Well, Diaz nearly got his chance to wrestle for that title tonight. He had the first takedown against defending state champ Gilberto Camacho of Fresno-Washington Union this morning and led 2-1 after two periods. It was even 2-2 until the final 15 seconds, when Camacho finally got a takedown and knocked Diaz from championship contention.

The Arvin wrestler will continue to wrestle; he's guaranteed a top-six finish. Meanwhile East 103-pounder Marc Collier, ranked fourth in state and the third-place finisher at Masters, was pinned in this morning's Cinderella consolation round. His teammate, 112-pounder Peter Gonzalez, won his match and will be a state medalist. Bakersfield High 140-pounder Jonah Cruz got five big nearfall points in the second period of his Cinderella match, held on to beat Lemoore's Nicholas Sierra and will also be a placer.

Liberty 145-pounder Robert Rios, though, lost to his Lemoore opponent, Vincent Rubio, and was knocked out. Kern County will have four placewinners and five if Centennial's John Musquez can win his 171-pound consolation match.

More semifinals coming up, but here's who we know will be in the state championships tonight:

103 pounds — Zach Zimmer, Clovis West, vs. Gilberto Camacho, Fresno-Washington Union
112 — MarkJay Acosta, San Leandro, vs. David Klingsheim, Brentwood-Liberty

— Posted by Zach Ewing

UPDATE: Just arrived here at the arena. One Cinderella's dream has already been broken. Los Angeles-Reseda 189-pounder Nasar Mohammad was a no-show to this morning's weigh-ins, which means that Jack Robinett of Atascadero will default into the medal rounds.
Mohammad was the only remaining wrestler from any of the L.A. City, San Francisco or Oakland sections.

ORIGINAL POST

No, I'm not quite at Rabobank Arena again for the second day of action at the 2008 CIF State Wrestling Championships (I don't get up that early), but I'll be on my way shortly.

Wanted to let you early risers know what we'll be keeping an eye on today:

— Local kids making good?
There are only two Kern County wrestlers in today's semifinals (that's one fewer than last year), a number that seems pretty low for how good the wrestling is around here. But there are still seven alive, with five in the consolation bracket. The semifinalists have already earned a top-eight finish and a state medal, no matter what happens today. The others need to win their first match to place.

— Cinderella round
That's the great thing about the first consolation round today, which starts in about 45 minutes. Win and you place, which is a goal for anyone who loses in the championship bracket and a dream come true for a lot of kids. Standing on that podium is a fantastic way to end a career, even if it's not on the very top. So some of the most emotional matches of the whole tournament come in this "Cinderella" round.

— Central Section superb
The Valley is making sure everyone knows where the wrestling powers in the state lie. Despite a so-so performance by Kern County, you can see why it's so hard to get to state from this area. Out of 56 semifinalists, 18 of them are from the Central Section — only 14 are from the Southern Section, which has nine entries at each weight class, and just 11 are Sac-Joaquin wrestlers (that section gets between 7-8 qualifiers.) The Valley sends seven to state. With 43 still alive (one fewer than the Southern Section), the section has more than showed it deserves at least that number.

— Super semifinals
Shortly after the consolation matches start, we'll begin the semifinals, matches that are of better quality than the final at almost any tournament across the state. Here are a few great ones to keep an eye out for:
103 pounds: No. 2 Bryan Grubbs, Carlsbad-La Costa Canyon vs. No. 3 Zach Zimmer, Clovis West
112: No. 1 Jesse Delgado, Gilroy vs. No. 3 David Klingsheim, Brentwood-Liberty
125: No. 3 Angel Garcia, San Dimas vs. No. 4 Steven Fitzgerald, Clovis East
130: No. 1 Justin Arredondo, Clovis-Buchanan vs. No. 3 Scott Chene, Irvine
135: No. 1 Nick Fisher, Clovis West vs. No. 3 Vinny Pisani, El Modena
160: No. 2 Steven Vasquez, Modesto-Central Catholic vs. No. 3 Morgan McIntosh, Santa Ana-Calvary Chapel
171: No. 2 Tito Pica, Concord-De La Salle vs. No. 3 Jake Meredith, Temecula Valley
189: No. 2 Phil Brandt, Fresno-Bullard vs. No. 3 Caleb Gerl, Downey-Calvary Chapel
215: No. 1 Rudi Burtschi, Oakdale, vs. No. 3 Brett Sanchez, Clovis
HWT: No. 2 Jonathen Zamora, Clovis vs. No. 3 Dominic Galas, Modesto-Central Catholic

We'll try to keep you updated on the goings-on this morning as best we can. I'm off to the arena; enjoy the wrestling everybody!

 — Posted by Zach Ewing

Foothill's Derik Rizo just lost his third-round consolation match, becoming the 12th Kern County wrestler to be eliminated today. That leaves 15 still alive for a state medal — six in the championship quarterfinals and now nine in the consolation bracket.

Here are your local quarterfinalists:

Marc Collier, East, 103
Edgar Diaz, Arvin, 103
Peter Gonzalez, East, 112
Jonah Cruz, Bakersfield, 140
Travis Rasmussen, Bakersfield, 145
Robert Rios, Liberty, 145

Rios is definitely the surprise of the group. He's beaten champions from the Sac-Joaquin (very impressive) and Los Angeles City (less so) Sections and then took out the Southern Section's No. 4 seed in a tight match in the round of 16. He'll face Jesse Cruz, the No. 5 SS wrestler from Northview, in the quarterfinals. Big opportunity there.

As for those left in the consolation brackets, they've got to win two more matches just to make it through the night. Then, tomorrow morning, the first consolation round (against quarterfinal losers) will determine state placers. It's the "Cinderella" round, as some coaches like to say.

We'll keep you up to date here, but I'd say we're looking at about 10 Kern County kids still alive at the end of the night. The county had just four placers last year.

First off, we apologize for the delay in posts. We had big-time technical issues for about an hour and a half there, but we seem to be up and running again.

There was a slew of upsets in the middle weights in the second round (first full round). Perhaps the biggest one (and that of most interest to Kern County) was Centennial's Seth Hicks, who got out to a big lead and then held on for dear life to beat Hesperia-Sultana's Cody Bollinger 11-9 at 140. Bollinger is No. 2  in the state.

But that wasn't all. The No. 1 140-pounder, Clovis' Scott Sakaguchi, fell 9-5 to Mitch Newcomer of Laguna Hills. That weight is wiiiide-open now. I'd say the suriver of the quarter with Jonah Cruz of Bakersfield and Trent Stevenson of Arcata will be a favorite along with Oakdale's Trevor Machado-Ching from the bottom half of the bracket.

Another upset was at 152, where BHS freshman Bryce Hammond beat Southern Section champion Jacob Rodriguez of Canyon Springs. What a strange match that was. Hammond gets out to a 16-2 lead with a flurry of nearfall points, but then seems to lose his edge. Rodriguez got back within 18-10 and nearly turned Hammond a few times with a minute still left in the match. But just when you think Hammond will have to stall out to win, he turns it around again and scores six straight points to win it  24-10. Wild match.

In other matches of interest. Jonah Cruz of BHS won in overtime after he was tied up late at 140, and Brad Carls, another Driller, is also into the round of 16 with a 7-4 decision against Raz Niazi of Franklin. And BHS 160-pounder Jose Ramirez won a small victory by taking down No. 1-ranked (nationally) Jason Welch of Las Lomas to start his match. Sure, Welch came back to win a techinical fall 20-5, but not many can say they took down Welch. It drew the biggest cheer of the day so far.

They're completing the first consolation round right now, with some trying to stay alive and others trying to salvage something out of an already disappointing tournament. BHS 125-pound freshman was the first Kern County wrestler to bow out. He was pinned in each of his first two matches. Stockdale 152-pounder Eric Matthews followed Box out the door, but as far as I know, all other K.C. wrestlers are alive.

They'll start championship round 3 and another consolation round here in a few minutes. Keep coming back for updates.

— Posted by Zach Ewing

So Ross said we were perched at section 110. He sort of lied, because I wasn't there yet. I am now, after much searching through the bowels of Rabobank Arena. Part of the problem is I've never been here, part of it is, like Ross said, how much is going on at once, and part of it is definitely a lack of organization in some parts of this tournament.

But that's how things go, I guess. I'll bet you all are rearin' and ready for an update. Here we go. Kern County wrestlers were 6-3 in the pigtail round, which was completed about an hour ago. Robert Rios of Liberty was a surprise winner, dominating Sac-Joaquin champion Casey Schumacher 15-6. He's got a chance now to make a run — his second match will be against Reynolds Rahaad of L.A.-San Fernando.

Other local winners were Edgar Diaz of Arvin (103), Vince Rivera of Liberty (130), Jonah Cruz (140) and Brad Carls (171)  of Bakersfield and David Travis of Foothill (215).

Bryan Magno of Ridgeview (130), Rene Medina of Shafter (160) and Joey Thomason of North (189), who was leading his match 6-2 before he was pinned, were pigtail losers.

In the first full round, K.C. hasn't fared quite as well, though East's Marc Collier (103) and Peter Gonzalez (112) are into the round of 16, as are Diaz and Rivera. But BHS freshman Timmy Box lost by pin in a match that was close at 125, and Derik Rizo of Foothill (119) and Sergio Martinez of Tehachapi (119) were both first-round losers. Not sure about Greg Kapler of Liberty at 135; that's what happens when you take your eye off the wrestling. 135- and 140-pounders are on the mat now.

The biggest upset of the day so far? How 'bout Clovis West 112-pounder Chris Martinez, who won the Central Section and is ranked seventh in the state, being pinned in the pigtails by Terry Allen, the fifth seed out of the Sac-Joaquin? Pretty big shocker there.

Other top wrestlers have had no problems, including the nation's No. 1 160-pounder, who tech-falled his pigtail opponent 20-5, 171-pounder Hunter Collins and 189-pounder Louis Bland. Bland and Welch are both in search of their third state titles.

More updates to come.

— Posted by Zach Ewing

Matches have already started, and it's already a madhouse at Rabobank Arena.

With 10 matches going on simultaneously, it's quite a spectacle. Keeping up with our local kids has been a challenge in of itself.

Zach and I are perched near section 110, and have a great view of mats 6 and 7. After that, we'll left looking for familiar singlets, and hoping to hear any hint of local teams over the announcements.

Hopefully, we'll have a better handle of this monstrosity in the coming minutes.

-- Ross Priest

Allow me a short story about myself.

Growing up, I never thought about wrestling, unless it was to dismiss it as the sport of thugs and 300-pounders. Imagine my surprise when, as a scrawny 100-pound freshman, my P.E. coach, also the school's wrestling coach, asked me to come out for the team. Coach, you see, was doing what most wrestling coaches have to do: He was scouring the halls and his classrooms to fill out his roster. He didn't have a 96-pounder on the freshman team.

"What the heck," I thought. "I don't play a winter sport, I'm competitive and (most important to me at the time) I can quit whenever I decide I don't like it."

Well, that never happened. I never was much good (though my team won two state titles, I didn't qualify for state until my senior year, and it's much easier to do that in New Mexico than it is in California), but I learned to love the sport. I grew up in that wrestling room. My mom and dad were doing a fine job, but I never would have learned so much maturity and discipline from them as I did on the mats.

So, yeah, I'm biased. But I just don't get how so many seem to be ignoring the fact that the CIF state wrestling championships are at Rabobank Arena this weekend. If you think wrestling is for thugs and 300-pounders, do yourself a favor and come have a look. Maybe a few reformed thugs (like any other sport) and maybe a few 280-pounders, but you'll probably never see a group of more intense competitors at one place in your life.

I love that wrestling is a purely physical, purely one-on-one sport. Getting tired? Too bad, nobody to help. Hurt? Suck it up or lose what you've been working for all year. Lost? Sorry, you've got to take the blame. but if you won? All the glory goes to you. You don't see high school kids facing that kind of pressure every day. And this is one of the best tournaments in the nation, right here in Bakersfield.

And for those who are afraid they'll be lost or won't understand what's going on, here are some of the basics: There are 14 weight classes (and none of them, believe it or not, are for 300-pounders), and each one will start with 40 competitors in a double-elimination bracket this weekend. Among them will be some of the best wrestlers in the nation and some who will be pinned twice and told to head to the stands.
Lose once, and you can no longer win state, though you can come back through and take third place. Lose twice, and you can only hope you've made it far enough to earn an elusive spot on the podium (top eight earn medals).

Here are some scoring basics:

There are three basic positions in wrestling: Neutral, top and bottom. What position the wrestlers are in limits the type of scoring they can do.

From the neutral position, wrestlers can score a "takedown," when one manuevers the action so that he's now on top. That's worth two points.
From the bottom position, wrestlers can "escape" back to neutral for one point or earn two points for a "reversal," which is where the bottom wrestler ends up on top.
There is only one good way to score from top, and that's "nearfall" points. This is, of course, when you nearly pin your opponent (his shoulders must be at less than a 45-degree angle with the mat). Hold that position for two seconds for two points and for five seconds for three points.
There are more-nuanced ways to score points, too; for instance, if one wrestler is warned for stalling twice in a match, the other is awarded a point. If the top wrestler locks his hands without working for a pin, that's a point for the bottom wrestler. There are others, but I'll spare you those for now.
Of course, any time there's a pin (one wrestler's shoulders are controlled and flat on the mat, even for a split-second), the referee will slap the mat and the match is over. Otherwise, the winner will be decided by scoring through three two-minute periods.

So get out to Rabobank and enjoy yourself this weekend (It'll be good for Bakersfield's economy too!). Doors open at 8 a.m. Friday and Saturday, wrestling starts at 9 each day, with championship matches set for 7:15 p.m. Saturday. Cost is between $11-25 per session, depending on which of three sessions you choose to attend and how good you want your seats. Children, students and seniors can get in for $8-10.

— Posted by Zach Ewing

If you're a wrestling fan, it is anyway.

Welcome to Pinheads, The Bakersfield Californian's blog for the state wrestling tournament this Friday and Saturday at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield.

We're hoping this becomes a place for state wrestling news both for Kern County wrestling fans and those around the state who are converging on Rabobank.

To start us off, here's a list of local state qualifiers. I've put the top 12  in order of how what I think their chances are at earning a top-eight medal this weekend.

Travis Rasmussen, 145 pounds, Bakersfield High — Kern County's best chance to win an individual title, hands down — 99 percent chance of earning a medal
Brad Carls, 171, Bakersfield — 90 percent
Marc Collier, 103, East Bakersfield — 85
Peter Gonzalez, 112, East — 85
Jonah Cruz, 140, BHS — 70
Edgar Diaz, 103, Arvin — 65
Timmy Box, 125, BHS — 55
Antonio Hernandez, heavyweight, East — 50
David Travis, 215, Foothill — 45
Bryce Hammond, 152, BHS — 40
Jose Ramirez, 160, BHS — 35
Brent Willis, heavyweight, North Bakersfield — 20
 

And then, in no particular order, the rest:
John Musquez, 171, Centennial
Seth Hicks, 140, Centennial
Derik Rizo, 119, Foothill
Bryan Magno, 130, Ridgeview
Brian Schoene, 215, Bakersfield
Anthony Padilla, heavyweight, Bakersfield
Joey Thomason, 189, North
Eric Matthews, 152, Stockdale
Rene Medina, 160, Shafter
Joseph Ames, 171, Shafter
Sergio Martinez, 119, Tehachapi
Marcus Abarquez, 189, Tehachapi
Vince Rivera, 130, Liberty
Gabe Kapler, 135, Liberty
Robert Rios, 145, Liberty

Of course, there are always surprises at a tournament like this. But if you're looking for hometown placers, keep an eye on that first group first. Anybody in the bottom group would have to pull a couple of big upsets to reach the podium.

Keep an eye out Thursday for capsules of all local wrestlers, which will include their record, performance at state last season and how they've done at tournaments this season. The incredible thing about these kids is that at this level, all of them have won a ton of matches and lost very few. There are no gimmes.

— Posted by Zach Ewing