FOUNTAIN VALLEY — Hunter Jauregui and Ryland Whitworth wrestled like they had to be somewhere in a hurry.
Jaruegui and Whitworth of Fountain Valley won all four of their matches by fall Saturday on their way to first-place finishes at the CIF Southern Section Inland Division boys wrestling individual championships at Fountain Valley High.
Jauregui, a sophomore, pinned Hesperia’s Zachary Southern in 1 minute and 7 seconds in the 106-pound final. Top-seeded in his weight class, Jauregui had a first-round bye before pinning his first two opponents in less than 60 seconds.
Whitworth, a CIF-SS champion at 195 pounds last year, won the 215-pound Inland Division title Saturday. The senior pinned Irvine’s Joseph Tierney in 39 seconds in the championship match.
Jauregui and Whitworth were named outstanding wrestlers of the meet.
Fountain Valley won the CIF-SS individual tournament team championship for the second year in a row. It is the seventh CIF-SS wrestling team championship for Fountain Valley.
With six wrestlers winning their weight classes, Fountain Valley tallied 333 points. Hesperia was second with 204 points and Newport Harbor was third with 183 points. Corona del Mar finished fifth with 166 points and Laguna Hills was seventh with 111.5 points.
The other Fountain Valley section champions Saturday were Anthony Lucio at 126 pounds, Hercules Windrath at 138, Rocky Windrath at 165 and Khale McDonnell at 190 pounds.
Whitworth was satisfied that long hours of preparation got him to the top of the medals podium again.
“All the work pays off,” said Whitworth, ranked No. 4 in California at his weight division by CalGrappler.com. “It makes this tournament a lot easier. I get to hang out and watch our whole team compete and win.”
At 215 pounds- Fountain Valley’s Ryland Whitworth (blue) vs Makoa McCreadie. Good battle. Whitworth, No. 4 in the state at 215, won by fall in this semifinal @CIFSS Inland Division finals at Fountain Valley HS pic.twitter.com/cLQXfDCZOl
— Steve Fryer (@SteveFryer) February 10, 2024
Jauregui expected to pin all of his opponents, and he did.
“All of my confidence comes from my training, my coaches, my family and my teammates,” Jauregui said. “They all motivate me.”
The top six finishers in the 106, 120, 132, 144 and 190-pound weight divisions advanced to the CIF-SS Masters Meet that will be held Friday, Feb. 16, at Palm Springs High School. The top five finishers in the other weight categories advance to the Masters Meet, which is the qualifying meet for the CIF State Championships.
In one of the better matches of the day, McDonnell beat Corona del Mar’s Eugenio Franco in a 4-3 decision. Franco is a couple of inches shorter than McDonnell, with a low center of gravity that enabled Franco to push the attack.
“He’s very hard to open up and get it on,” said McDonnell, a CIF-SS champion at 170 pounds last year.
Windrath also is a CIF-SS repeat champion, having won at 138 pounds last season. He said Fountain Valley’s wrestling success is a result of the program’s athletes pushing each other to succeed.
“It’s the energy that everyone gives off on each other,” Windrath said. “Everyone makes everyone else work hard.”
Newport Harbor had two champions, Demian Priyama at 132 pounds and Anthony Manno at 150 pounds.
Manno’s win was among the more dramatic ones Saturday. He won by fall in the second overtime, defeating Christian Stoeber of Fountain Valley in an entertaining battle.
Manno and Stoeber were tangled when Manno made his move.
“I was just trying to put a leg in and get it to another overtime,” Manno said. “Then I decided, ‘Why not go for it?’”
Priyama might have had underdog status going into Saturday’s finals.
“Everyone’s beatable,” Priyama said. “I just stopped looking at the rankings because they don’t mean anything.”
Antonio Aramburu and Zion Hernandez of Corona del Mar won championships, Aramburu at 157 pounds and Hernandez at 175 pounds. Hernandez was a CIF-SS champion last year at 160 pounds.
