Tiger wrestlers WYL champs again; Lemoore to host Central Section championships Friday, Saturday

The “routine” continues on Friday (Feb. 14) when Saturday Lemoore’s talented Tiger wrestlers will host the Central Section Division 1 Wrestling Championships, the first step towards the California State Wrestling Championships, scheduled for Feb. 27, 28, 29 in Bakersfield.

According to the Tiger’s coach, Marcio Botelho, the powerhouse Central Section is perhaps the most dominant in California. “It’s the best teams in the state from our section,” he said. “There are 111 ranked wrestlers – all from our section – who are going to be there. It’s going to be a grind.”

In all, 16 Division 1 schools will be on hand this weekend trying to send their top wrestlers to the Feb. 21-22 Masters. The top 10 athletes from each wrestling class are invited to the Masters, the final step in advancing to the state championships.

This year’s version of Tiger wrestling blitzed the WYL, finishing the season at 5-0, capped by the big win over a pretty strong Hanford team. Botelho’s teams have won nine of the last 11 league titles. “We beat everybody in league pretty solidly,” he said. “Our last dual was with Hanford to capture the league championship.

“We took control right off the bat with a big win from Dylan McDonald, a 108-pound sophomore. From there, he kind of set the tone, and we ended up winning 10 of the 14 weight classes,” said the longtime Tiger coach.

While there wasn’t a final WYL tournament to decide league championships, Botelho is confident that when the coaches get together soon to choose all-league selections, he’s adamant that his Tigers will dominate the field. This year’s new rules though, allow him to nominate just seven athletes.

Many of Lemoore’s varsity wrestlers were undefeated in league action, including 132-pound and 2019 state qualifier Wayne Joint and Will Kloster (170), both of whom took the WYL by storm, finishing with perfect 5-0 records. Other undefeated champs included Dylan McDonald (108), Sebastian Macedo (120), and Robert Brooks (154). Gabriel Skyers (184) and Jose Morales (220) were 4-1 in the WYL.