Victor Valley Has the Inside Track in Bid to Win State Wrestling Title

FRESNO —  The Victor Valley High School wrestling team couldn’t win the Southern Section 3-A championship, but the Jackrabbits have a good shot at winning the state title after their performance Friday in the opening rounds of the CIF State Tournament in Selland Arena.

Three Victor Valley wrestlers--Charlie Irick (115 pounds), Ray Leonard (122) and Dan Henderson (148)--each won three matches to advance to today’s semifinals and give the Jackrabbits a meet-leading team score of 38 1/2, three ahead of second-place San Diego Poway.

Another San Diego Section school, Granite Hills, is in third place with 32 1/2 points, while Keppel, which won the Southern Section 3-A title ahead of Victor Valley two weeks ago, is fourth with 29. The only other Southern Section school among the top 10 is Capistrano Valley, which is seventh with 24 1/2 points.

The section’s two defending state champions, Santa Fe’s Lynden Campbell (129) and El Dorado’s Todd Tomazic (168), won three matches to advance to today’s semifinals, which begin at 11 a.m.

Mark Gerardi, a two-time defending state champion from San Diego’s Valhalla High, is in a position to win a third title, as he beat three opponents in the 157-pound division to advance. The championship finals begin tonight at 7:30 p.m.

Poway (Marty Lewis, 129, and Brian Woods, 168), Granite Hills (Dave Myers, 141, and Tom Vardell, 194) and Keppel (Pramin Phatipong, 108, and Lupe Jiminez (115) each had two wrestlers advance to the semifinals.