Tigers will send five wrestlers to CIF California State Wrestling Championships this weekend in Bakersfield

The girls' state tournament in previous years, was held in Visalia at the Convention Center. This year’s state tourney is scheduled for Feb. 21-23, and Lemoore will have two ladies in the state championships.

The CIF Central Section Masters, held this past weekend at Lemoore High School, determined who earned a spot in the state championships. The Tigers placed five athletes to continue what has become an annual tradition for Lemoore wrestlers.

The biggest coup came in the form of sophomore Wayne Joint’s Masters’ championship in which he blitzed through the 128-pound division, a run that culminated in a finals’ victory over Buchanan’s Hunter Leake.

Leake’s Buchanan teammates didn’t disappoint their fans as the Bears took their fourth straight Masters’ team title, and come this weekend, the powerful Bears will once again be in the state title hunt, seeking their fourth straight in Bakersfield. Buchanan also won four individual championships.

Joint started his Masters’ chase with an easy 18-2 win over Liberty High’s Colton Hunt before beating Atascadero’s Trent Straeck 20-5 in the next round. From there he beat Clovis High’s Austin Rhoads and then Frontier’s Cole Reyes to earn the title shot.

Joint will have plenty of company in Bakersfield. A pair of teammates – Will Kloster and Jesse Gaytan – finished in the top 8 to earn a spot in the state championships. Kloster took fourth in his 162-pound weight class to earn his second trip to the CIF championships while Gaytan, a junior, qualified with his fifth-place showing and a second straight appearance at the state finals.

Lemoore’s top female wrestler, Eunique Barnes, earned her third straight trip to the state finals. Her only blemish this past weekend occurred in the championship bout in which the talented Lemoore wrestler lost to Golden Valley’s Kayvette Osorio in the 191-pound division.

The Tigers’ 103-pound wrestler, freshman Marisa Perico, earned her first trip to the state championships, finishing third at the Masters.