Lemoore's Gary Joint conquers Bakersfield, wins state wrestling championship

Lemoore has four wrestlers earn medals at the state championships Saturday (L to R) Angel Solis, Noah Wright, Coach Marcio Botelho, Gary Joint, Asst. Coach Armando Calderon, and Joe Romero.

Joint went on a rampage during the two-day state championships, the final match coming down to a Saturday night matchup with Frontier High School’s Elijah Ozuna, the state’s third-ranked wrestler at 132 pounds.

CIF State Wrestling Results

Joint racked up three points on a takedown and an escape to defeat Ozuna and claim the state title. “This is pretty much a dream come true for me,” he said. “Now I want to begin training for an NCAA title.

“I just felt that I deserved this,” he continued. “I’ve been working very hard at this, and I was ready for it.”

After years of working toward a state title, Joint has earned the right to take it easy – and he will, but only for a couple of days before he gets back into the routine of preparing for future bouts, like the Nationals. He also wants to begin preparing for what promises to be exciting college career.

Joint’s coach, Marcio Botelho summed it up: “Gary had the mind set to win,” he said. “Gary stayed in a good position and wrestled a very smart match.”

Botelho has a lot to be proud of following the state wrestling championships in Bakersfield. Four of his wrestlers earned medals, including 280-pounder Noah Wright (fourth), 182-pound Angel Solis, a sixth-place finisher, and Joe Romero who competed the two-day tourney with an eighth-place medal.

“We had a great tournament,” said Botelho, a former state champion for the Tigers. “Our guys wrestled at a high level. I’m so proud of our team.”

Thanks to the Tigers’ four medalists, Lemoore did well in the final rankings, finishing ninth overall out of more than 240 teams. The Tigers finished with 79.5 points. The top spot, as expected, went to Buchanan High School with its 213.5 points.

Wright, at 285 pounds, made it all the way to the championship semifinals before losing to Delhi’s Jesus Flores. Wright got to the consolation finals but lost to Corning High School’s Gavin Nye for third place overall.

Solis made it to the championship quarterfinals before dropping a match to Buchanan’s Anthony Montalvo, who won the 182-pound championship. In the consolation bracket, Solis won two matches before falling to Bakersfield’s Sam Loera.

At 138 pounds Joe Romero won his first three consolation matches before falling to Yucaipa’s Alejandro Raya, and finished eighth overall.