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The Tri-Community wrestling team, which included wrestlers from Mt. Vista and San Manuel Jr. High Schools, placed 9 of 12 wrestlers at the Coronado Team Dual Tournament, which took place two weeks ago.
As a team, Tri-Community won its pool, 3 – 0, and placed third overall.
Tri-Community defeated Marana (47 – 45), La Cima (58 – 5) and Cross (48 – 48, won tiebreaker).
Against Cross, Tri-Community trailed early, 24 – 6, before stringing together a number of pinned matches to tie the dual. It won the tiebreaker as a result of a greater number of pins.
“Out of the eight schools there we were definitely the smallest school there,” Tri-Community head coach Julian Rodriguez said. “Us being outnumbered and showing that we can compete with these bigger schools with what we have was the biggest accomplishment.
“All (of the) wrestlers wrestled great and showed a lot of heart, especially in times when we needed team points.”
Results are as follows:
First Place – Raymond Garcia (98), Tommy Morris (118) and Andres Rodriguez (180).
Second Place – Lucy Chavez (104), Elmer Smith (125) and Jakob Tafoya (133).
Third Place – Chad Martinez (78), Vicente Curry (111) and Richard Ivy (142).
Each of the nine placers is an eighth-grader, except Martinez, who is a sixth-grader.
Andrew Luberda began writing for Copper Area News Publishers (CANP) in February 2013 after working 15 years in Healthcare Financial Management. Andy covers sports for 11 high schools. His stories are published in Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner and Superior Sun, in addition to the San Tan Valley Daily PRSS and CopperArea websites. Additionally, he has written human interest stories and business profiles. In May 2012, he earned an AAS in Sports Management at Central Arizona College before graduating with a BS in Communication from Arizona State University in 2014. He and his wife, Kelli, have three sons – AJ, Kyle, and Kade.
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