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San Manuel Miners
The San Manuel wrestling team has been busy over the last two weeks, including competing in a pair of tournaments at Coolidge and Salpointe Catholic the last two weekends.
The Miners started with a non-conference meet on Jan. 10, against Buena and Desert View in Sierra Vista, where freshman Gilbert Rodriguez (106) and Adrian Romero (195) both went 2 – 0. As a team, the Miners went 0 – 2, losing to Buena (66 – 12) and Desert View (36 – 28).
At the Coolidge Lions’ Club Invitational on Jan. 12-13, the Miners placed three wrestlers, including 106-LB Champion and Outstanding Wrestler (Lightweights) Gilbert Rodriguez. TJ Madrid (120) and Ruben Hernandez (195) brought home fifth-place finishes. As a team, the Miners finished 2 – 5 at one of state’s largest in-season tournaments.
“Three of those losses could have gone either way,” San Manuel head coach Manny Yubeta said. “(Each of the three) were lost by only one match.”
At Tombstone last Wednesday, the Miners were defeated by Pima (54 – 12) and Willcox (49 – 29). TJ Madrid and Max Fisher (222) each finished 2 – 0 while Yesenia Arciniega (108), Mia Borg (115), Daniel Garcia (154), and Michael Martinez (162) each had one win apiece.
Four Miners were out of the lineup due to various illnesses.
The Miners were the only 2A conference team to compete at the prestigious Diego Gadea Memorial Salpointe Catholic Invitational last weekend.
San Manuel finished 16th out of 33 teams that competed.
“The little 2A school that could,” Yubeta said about his team. “That should be the moniker for this year’s Miner wrestling team. (We) wrestled in one of the toughest tournaments in the state, and against some of the behemoth schools from around Arizona and Nevada.”
Three Miners placed at the tournament, including Gilbert Rodriguez (108) – 2nd, Ruben Hernandez (197) – 4th, and Max Fisher (222) – 5th.
“Ruben and Max had to battle back after losing tin the championship quarterfinals and wrestle four consecutive matches to place in the tournament,” Yubeta said. “This is such a great tournament to get our team ready for the post-season sectional and state tournaments in February.”
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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