Beaudette headed for State

RIALTO — Newport Harbor High Coach Dominic Bulone has this rule that he will not attend the CIF State Wrestling Championships unless he has a wrestler qualify.

Well, now he can go.

Newport Harbor senior Brian Beaudette made sure of that by finishing eighth in the heavyweight division at the CIF Masters Meet Saturday at Carter High. He took the final spot and now moves on to the CIF State Championships at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield, March 2-3.

Newport Harbor junior Josh George (29-12), who finished fourth in the CIF Individual Coast Division Tournament Feb. 17, bowed early in the 135-pound division at the Masters, losing in the consolation second round to Patrick Martinez of Temecula Valley, 4-0.

Beaudette (32-11), who earned third place in the CIF Coastal Division, went 3-1 Saturday and became the first Newport Harbor wrestler to qualify for the state meet since Jason Deere went in 1996. Beaudette is the first Newport-Mesa district wrestler to advance to state since Estancia’s Nathan Thaler in 2001.

“I told my coach I wanted to take him there,” Beaudette said in a phone interview. “He said he wouldn’t go unless he had a state qualifier. He wanted to wait until that moment. So now I’ll take him there.”

Making it to Bakersfield has been Beaudette’s goal all year, he said, but it became more of a reality Saturday after he won his first two matches. He pinned Hemet’s Eliseo Aceves in four minutes, 30 seconds, rallying from a 7-1 deficit earlier in the match, which was a second-round consolation contest.

Beaudette then defeated Jerome Long of Morro Bay, 8-3, to gain more momentum. To qualify for state, Beaudette collected a win when Santa Ana Valley’s Moises Aguilar defaulted because of a knee injury. Afterward, Beaudette lost to Western’s Andrew Lupati, 5-3, and then defaulted the seventh-place match to avoid injury because he had already qualified for state.

“I was really excited,” said Beaudette, who also played football and as a junior was part of the Sailors’ CIF Southern Section Division VI championship team. “[Qualifying for state is] high up there. It’s almost better than winning CIF in football, but I don’t get a ring.”

Saturday’s achievement ranked high for Beaudette because of what he’s been able to overcome in his senior year. Before the football season began, he had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. In the fall, he received All-Newport-Mesa honors as an offensive guard.

Then in wrestling, he also became a force, establishing himself as one of the county’s top wrestlers. He won the 27th annual Estancia New Year Classic Jan. 6. Beaudette finished second at the Sunset League finals.

While the year has been great for Beaudette, the fact that Newport Harbor has a state qualifier also proved to be meaningful for Bulone, who is in his eighth year with the Sailors.

Bulone has never been to the state meet. He nearly qualified as a wrestler, missing it by one win when he competed for Irvine High in 1991.

“It should be very nice,” Bulone said. “We’ll soak it in. A CIF state qualifier will help out our program to show others what it has done.”

Bulone said he had not reserved a hotel room, so now he’ll try to book a place to stay, though it will be difficult now to get a spot in Bakersfield. He said he might drive an RV and they would sleep in it nearby the event.

Beaudette said he’s never been to Bakersfield. He’ll find out who he’ll wrestle today when brackets are released.