TJ wrestles two days straight and brings home high hopes for the state competition.
Photo by Hanna Kazlouskaya
When the Heritage High School wrestling team walked through the doors an aura of competition kicked in. The match started at 7 p.m. with all the guys getting weighed in. Heritage is a duel team that wrestles at 5A and has a team record of 16-1. TJ lost with a score of 69-3 and on Saturday went to the finals at Rock Canyon.
“This was a tough match for us because the opposing school has a solid team. We were also unfortunate to have some forfeits when some of the players could not meet their weight level,” said Sophomore Kenny Ojeda, who also wrestled with a back problem that he suffered from a previous match.
The loss took a hit on the guys and the team in general. “This is a match that we don’t really want to remember or talk about,” said Assistant Coach Matt Laurita. The only wrestler who pulled a win from Friday’s match was Layth Dieyleh with a score of 7-4.
Saturday morning the guys geared up to go the finals at Rock Canyon where they were sure to make up for the loss from last night. The wrestling team won the finals with a score of 4-0. They took on Thornton winning 36-25, and winners from the match include: Corey Hernandez, Layth Dieyleh, Daniel Webster, Joe Johnson, Bennett Rodriguez, and Garmaa Shinebayer.
The team then went up against Rock Canyon winning 36-28 and winners include: Elias Valenzuela-Ruiz, Layth Dieyleh, Noel Estrada, Daniel Webster, Joe Johnson, Bennett Rodriguez, and Garmaa Shinebayer. The next competitors were then Lincoln and again TJ came out with a win 44-24 and winners include: Corey Hernandez, Elias Valenzuela-Ruiz, Marc Chinchilla, Layth Dieyleh, Noel Estrada, Joe Johnson, Bennett Rodriguez, and Garmaa Shinebayer.
The final match of the day for TJ was against West, TJ winning with a 40-11 score; winners include: Corey Hernandez, Layth Dieyleh, Marc Chinchilla, Noel Estrada, Daniel Webster, Joe Johnson, Bennett Rodriguez, and Garmaa Shinebayer. In the final the Spartans wrestled against Eaglecrest High School and did not come out with a win, but the wrestlers who did win are Layth Dieyleh, and Noel Estrada. The Spartans finished 2nd overall.
The next match on the calendar for the TJ wrestlers is this Wednesday at 6 p.m. Come out and support the wrestlers as they take on Mountain Vista.
