By Brandon Yung
Staff Writer
The Tigers finished their 2015-2016 season unable to send any of the seven viable wrestlers to Masters during CIF this past weekend. The CIF tournament took place at Santiago High School on Friday and Saturday, February 19 and 20. Individuals were eliminated after two losses.
Out of the seven wrestlers who competed, five were eliminated on the first day of the heated competition. Sophomore George Barrone (106 lb) lost all two of his initial matches, falling out of the competition. Senior Jason Takarabe (160 lb) and sophomores Sebastian Chinen (145 lb) and Irvin Perez (113 lb) started hopeful with either a bye or a win, but quickly fell out. Senior Emiliano Sornoso (152 lb), because of his high seating at sixth place at the beginning of the tournament, was also eliminated from his bracket on the first day.
On day two, only seniors Caleb St. Julian (126 lb) and Parker Bell (170 lb) remained. Both Bell and St. Julian had two wins and a loss under their belts from the previous day. However, they were both pinned on the first matches of the day, sending the Tigers back home from the CIF Individual Tournament.
“We fought hard and did well for the most part. We just couldn’t keep up with the intense competition at such a high level.” said Chinen. “Hopefully I’ll do better when I’m back at it next year.”
The Tigers look forward to preparing for another season after their upcoming month-long break until off-season
training starts.