Tigers send seven to wrestling Masters in Bakersfield; girls' Barnes earns spot in State

By Ed Martin, Editor

Despite having just one wrestler in the Yosemite Division finals, the Lemoore High School boys' wrestling team still managed to send a total of seven wrestlers to this weekend’s Masters’ tournament in Bakersfield.

Lemoore’s top female wrestler, Eunique Barnes, competing Wednesday and Thursday, earned a second straight trip to the CIF Girls’ State Wrestling championships scheduled for this weekend, Feb. 23-24 in the Visalia Convention Center by finishing as runner-up to Golden Valley’s Kayvette Osorio in the 189-pound weight class.

Lemoore's Euniaue Barnes earned a second straight trip to the CIF Girls' Wrestling Championships to be held this Feb. 23-24 in Visalia.
Lemoore's Euniaue Barnes earned a second straight trip to the CIF Girls' Wrestling Championships to be held this Feb. 23-24 in Visalia.
Gary Feinstein/Feinsteinfotos

The two-day boys' event drew championship wrestlers from throughout the Central Section to Lemoore. Buchanan High School took top team honors, followed by Clovis North, Clovis and then Bakersfield High School in fourth place. Lemoore finished 10th overall of the 47 schools that participated.

Only Will Kloster, a sophomore wrestling at 160 pounds, managed to make it to Saturday’s 5 p.m. finals but lost to Buchanan’s Joel Romero. Kloster was impressive throughout, opening on Friday with a comfortable 15-0 win over Foothill’s Eric Stoval before beating Sanger’s Jonathan Roth to advance.

Kloster then defeated Augustine Garcia (Madera South) 2-1 and then Max Aguirre 2-1 to earn a spot in the title match. “He wrestled really well,” said Tiger Coach Marcio Botelho. “He took a senior who was much more experienced. He also beat the No. 5 ranked guy in the state to advance to the finals.”

Botelho plans to use the finals loss to help Kloster prepare for this week’s tournament. “We definitely have something to work on and beat him this week in the finals.”

The Masters’ tournament is at Bakersfield’s North High School Feb. 23-24. The top 10 wrestlers from the Yosemite Division finals earn spots in the Masters.

Freshman Wayne Joint, competing at 113 pounds, finished fifth overall. Joint beat Highland’s Julian Oregon and then Central’s Adrian Chavez before dropping a disappointing match to Buchanan’s Maximo Renteria in three sets. Renteria went on to win the 113-pound weight class.

Other Lemoore qualifiers are Jesse Gayton, eighth place at 122 pounds and 140-pound Joe Romero who took sixth. Senior Jacob Gonsalves finished 6th at 222 pounds while heavyweight Mateo Brewer was eight overall. John Panduro was 10th overall at 170 pounds.

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