Former Morro Bay High wrestling coach and long-time referee Dan Duclos (center) is flanked by former wrestlers and local kids after being given the first Sam Boyd Award for his contributions to the school wrestling program, the CIT Tournament and the sport.
Photos and story by Neil Farrell
The Annual Sam Boyd Memorial California Invitational Tournament saw over 50 high schools from Northern, Southern California, the Central Coast, Central Valley and even one school from Nevada converge on Morro Bay High School for two days of intense grappling action.
When the sweat on the mats was cleared, Oakdale High School was the team winner scoring 243 points. Servite, a private Catholic school in Anaheim was second with 209.5 points and Bakersfield High third with 162.
Fourth Place went to Valencia High of Valencia with 146 points, and Fifth Place went to Clovis East H.S. with 131.
SLO County’s Paso Robles High was sixth with 128; Reedley High was seventh with 125.6; and Bullard High from Fresno was eighth with 124.
In ninth place was Redwood High from Larkspur, Calif, with 121.5 points and in Tenth Place was Clovis West with 120.
No Morro Bay wrestlers medaled this year but there were some medalists from San Luis Obispo High, Paso Robles, Cabrillo and Santa Ynez to represent the Central Coast.
Top finishers by weight class were:
• Boys Varsity, 106 pounds: first place went to Aiden Talavera of Reedley who beat second place finisher Kayden Khim of Clovis West, 8-0.
Third was Elham Hashimi of Livermore; fourth was Landon Quirk of Nordhoff; Daniel Serrano of Clovis East was fifth; Aiden Calvert of Franklin was sixth; Rey Villarreal of Peninsula was seventh; and Oakdale’s Grant Dixon of Oakdale finished eighth taking the final medal.
• 113 lbs: Uriah Correa of Servite beat Caden Herrera of Bakersfield 16-3 to take the title.
Jaden Chan of Ayala was third; Shawn M. Price of Mission Oaks (Tulare) was fourth; Cristian Bustos of Reedley was fifth; sixth went to Ezekiel Hernandez of Oakdale; seventh to Luis Juarez of Pioneer Valley; and in eighth place was Aiden Medina of Firebaugh.
• 120 lbs: Francisco Hernandez of Bullard beat Caleb Cisneros of Selma 8-1 to win the title.
In Third Place was Oscar Mendoza of Servite; fourth went to Jordan Medrano of Ceasar Chavez High (Stockton); fifth was Alex Ramos of Clovis West; sixth was Jeovanni Guerrero of Clovis East; seventh was James Fukuchi of Cerritos; and eighth was Jason Ybarra of Pacifica (Garden Grove).
• 126 lbs: Massimo Ortiz of Servite beat Manuel Gutierrez of Selma, 7-2 to win the crown.
Third Place went to Vincent Peyron of Mission Oaks; fourth to Jayden Olivas of Clovis East; fifth to Aron Guardado of South High (Torrance); sixth was Osiel Perez of Redwood; seventh was Matthew Ramos of Exeter; and eighth was Ezekiel Bayardo of Immanuel (Reedley).
• 132 lbs: Slater Hicks of Valencia pinned second place finisher Johnny Benitez of Redwood in 2:58 (second round).
Third Place went to Johnathan Olmos of San Luis Obispo; fourth to Johna Rusca of Reedley; fifth to Brakstyn Herrera of Sierra Pacific (Hanford); sixth was Dominic Lopez of Hughson; seventh was Emiliano Lopez of Bullard; and eighth was Ace Gibson of Simi Valley.
• 138 lbs: Silas Varner of Bakersfield pinned second place Liam Henson of Mission Oak in 3:03 (second round).
Third Place went to Julian Espinoza of Cerritos fourth was Drake Mello of Paso Robles; fifth to Jimmy Alvarez Jr. of Millikan (Long Beach); sixth to Landon Mason of Hughson; seventh to Aeden Ortega of El Diamante (Visalia); and eighth went to Andrew Wallace of Cabrillo (Lompoc).
• 144 lbs: Daniel Baeza of San Dimas beat second place finisher Xander Fronhofer of Nordhoff 14-10 to win the tournament.
Third Place went to Isaiah Gonzales of South High; fourth to Michael Perez of Firebaugh; fifth to Hunter Artim of Servite; sixth to Garrison Choi of Cerritos; seventh to Curren Lane of Santa Ynez and eighth to Ty Greer of Murrieta Valley (Murrieta Calif.).
• 150 lbs: Vincent Hanna of Servite pinned Evan Payne of Valencia in 3:56 (second round).
Third Place went to Elias Gonzales of Sanger; fourth to Austin Brown of Clovis West fifh to Elias Salloum of Ayala (Chino Hills); sixth to Wyatt Bassett of Bakersfield; seventh to Alex Andre of Simi Valley; and eighth to Zeke Meza of Oakdale.
• 157 lbs: Chris Creason of El Diamante won by technical fall 20-1 over Jesse Meza of Oakdale.
Third Place went to Ray Juarez of Bakersfield fourth to Logan Lopez of Clovis East; fifth to Andre Sedeno of Camarillo; sixth to Cooper Culver of Chico; seventh to Israel Mercado of Oakdale and eighth to Shamar Burnett of Bullard.
• 165 lbs: Carson Melendy of Churchill County in Fallon Nevada pinned Second Place finisher Nathan Paul of Bakersfield Christian in 5:44 (third round).
Third Place went to Mason Eliyiu of Ayala; fourth to Damian Mannon of Clovis East; fifth to Tomas Fulgentes of Royal (Simi Valley); sixth to Pedro Coronado of Paso Robles; seventh to Daniel Navarro of Servite; and eighth went to Jonathan Lopez of Centennial (Compton).
• 175 lbs: Efosa Osayande of Peninsula of Palos Verdes won by technical fall 20-5 over Cody Soares of Oakdale.
Third Place went to Angelo Adame of Matilda Torres (Madera); fourth to Jayden Gonzalez of Shafter; fifth to Conception Salas Jr. of Sanger West; sixth to Alex Rosa of Firebaugh; seventh to Horacio Jacuinde of Bullard; and, eighth went to Jeremiah Galloni Rodriguez of Westminster.
• 190lbs: Xander Birakos of Oakdale pinned Second Place Ronin Davis of Liberty in just 16 seconds in the first round.
Third Place went to Ronan McAllister of Livermore; fourth to Drake Fields of Sanger; fifth to Alejandro Rodriquez of Bakersfield; sixth to Colby Thompson of Chico; seventh to Michael Hernandez of Centennial and, eighth went to Michael Fleurant of Valencia.
• 215 lbs: Wes Burford of Oakdale pinned Edwin Hopkins of Westminster in 2:59 (second round) to win the CIT title.
Third Place went to Caleb Ocampo of Exeter; fourth to Daniel Escobedo of Millikan; fifth to Ethan Ono of Dos Pueblos (Goleta); sixth to Fernando Avila of Bullard seventh to Daniel DeVries of Arroyo Grande; and eighth went to Noah Yasko of Simi Valley.
• 285 lbs: Matthew Cooley of Oakdale blanked Enrique Segura of Redwood, 8-0 to take First Place.
Third Place went to Noah Huss of Moorpark; fourth to Matthew Milner of San Luis Obispo; fifth to Andru Balladarez of Edison (Fresno); sixth to Bedros Behnam of Clovis West; seventh to Luke Kingman of Murrieta Valley; and eighth went to Adrian Valenzuela of Pioneer Valley.
Tournament officials also handed out some honorary awards.
The Vaughan Hitchcock Award, named after the legendary Cal Poly wrestling coach who started the CIT back in the 1960s and ran it until he retired after which it was moved to Morro Bay in the 1970s by the late Sam Boyd, was given to the family of Santa Maria High wrestler Noah Lawson, who wrestled at the CIT from 2014-17. Lawson was a U.S. Marine who was killed in action.
The family of Righetti High wrestler, Jason Bautista was also given a Hitchcock Award after he died in a car accident in 2020.
Former Morro Bay High Wrestling Coach and long-time referee, Dan Duclos was given the first Sam Boyd Award in this the 45th year he’s been involved with the tournament.
And legendary referee, Doug Perrin, was also given a Sam Boyd Award for helping referee the CIT (and prep wrestling dual meets) for 51 years.
