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San Manuel Junior High School wrestlers

  The San Manuel Jr. High wrestling team is finding out hard work pays off, as it started it season about a month ago with mostly positive results along with “a wealth of experience.”

  The Jr. Miners hosted the 17^th Annual San Manuel Wrestling Invitational, which took place on Saturday, Nov. 18, and included 189 wrestlers representing 14 schools.

  San Manuel finished 9^th in the tournament with 71 points. Eloy finished with 251.5 points to take home first place at the event.

  Four Jr. Miners’ wrestlers placed in the top four, including Aiden Lozoya (6^th-grade, 200) 2^nd, Isaiah Ramirez (7^th-grade, 142) 2^nd, and Victor Fitts (7^th-grade, 154) 4^th. Other San Manuel wrestlers who competed are eighth graders Austin Axe (73) and Romeo Cruz (200); seventh graders Julian Stanford (93), Mathias Medina (118), Andy Rodriguez (125), Ralphy Valencia (111), and Rocky Andrade (167); and sixth grader Vicente Curry (83).

  In their first dual/multi meet of the season on Tuesday, Dec. 5, at Hayden, the Jr. Miners defeated Globe and Miami.

  The results are as follows:

San Manuel Defeated Globe, 30 – 24.

Isiah Gonzalez (Loss by Fall)

Victor Fitts (Win by Fall)

Austin Axe (LBF)

Vicente Curry (WBF)

Julian Stanford (LBF)

Mathias Medina (Win by Tech) 21-6

JoJo Atrian (LBF)

Andy Rodriguez (LBF)

Isaiah Ramirez (WBF)

San Manuel Defeated Miami, 25 – 24.

Vicente Curry (LBF)

Julian Stanford (LBF)

Mathias Medina (Win by Points) 11-4

Andy Rodriguez (LBF)

Isaiah Gonzalez (LBF)

Isaiah Ramirez (WBP) 8-2

Vicente Curry (WBP) 14-6

Julian Stanford (WBF)

JoJo Atrian (WBF)

Andy Rodriguez (WBP) 2-0

Victor Fitts (WBT) 16-1

Aiden Lozoya wrestled two exhibition matches and won both by pin.

Andy Luberda (1149 Posts)

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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