Bishop Bronco Wrestling 16 Feb 25
By Dr. Mark Hodges
This past Friday and Saturday, six Bishop Broncos wrestled at the Central Section Division 5 Tournament in Visalia – the first step to the state championships. Broncos at this tournament were juniors Kano Graves, Mikey Trejo and Chucky Delgado along with sophomores Jaidyn McKellips and Daxen Svacina and freshman Messi Trejo. At this tournament, wrestlers must place in the top 3 to advance to the Central Section Finals next weekend. There is a consolation bracket for those who have lost one match, where wrestlers are all vying for 3rd place.
Although they wrestled their best, 3 of the Broncos went 0 – 2. Sophomore Jaidyn McKellips, wrestling at 144 pounds, won a match in the Championship bracket, but then lost his next match against the #1 seeded wrestler. In the consolation bracket, Jaidyn fought his way to the match for 3rd place by pinning all three of his opponents – one in just 47 seconds! Unfortunately, Jaidyn lost the match for 3rd place and finished in 4th.
Junior Mikey Trejo made his way to the semifinals in the 157 pound weight class, where he lost against a wrestler from Tehachapi. This wrestler happened to be the younger brother of the Tehachapi wrestler that Will Hennarty beat 2 years ago to qualify for the state tournament. Mikey fought his way to the 3rd place finish, where he won with a 10-4 decision, qualifying him for the Central Section Finals.
Junior Kano Graves at 159 pounds had a 15-0 technical fall in his first match and pinned his next two opponents, making it to the finals. Like his other matches, Kano dominated his opponent, pinning him for a FIRST PLACE CIF win. To show his dominance, only 2 points were scored against Kano in the entire tournament.
This year there were 24 schools attending the division 5 championships and Bishop finished in 14th place – not bad for a team with just 6 wrestlers in the 14 weight classes. Even though High Desert League foe Kern Valley brought 9 wrestlers, the Broncos outscored them by 10 points.
Head Coach Brady Howell said, “We were definitely planning on having a few more wrestlers advance to the Masters Tournament but all in all I am proud of these guys. Placing 3 out of 6 wrestlers and having 2 go to Masters is still a huge accomplishment for Bishop.”
The next action for the two Broncos left in the playoffs is the Central Division Championships in Fresno this coming Friday and Saturday.
Discover more from Sierra Wave: Eastern Sierra News - The Community's News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
