Cardinal grapplers edged for NAL title

The Corning varsity wrestling team boasted five individual champions and several surprise performances Saturday at the Northern Athletic League championships, which were hosted by Anderson High School.

The host Cubs were just a little stronger overall, however, with 198.5 points to the Cardinals' 195, for the NAL tournament title.

West Valley edged Lassen for third, 124-123, and Central Valley was fifth (38.5).

Nick Johnson defeated Jake Morales for the 142-pound title, avenging teammate Calvin Meister's loss in the league dual with the Eagles at 147 pounds.

Meister (147) earned the silver, reaching the finals and losing to Central Valley's Josh Dye.

Billy Crawford triumphed in the 154-pound title bout, pinning Ben Thomas of Lassen in the second period, and Thomas Marshall forced Giorgi Dolitze of Anderson into submission in the third period for the 191 championship.

Tanner Johnson thumped Alex Miller of Anderson in the 121-pound final, pinning him in the second period, and Nathan Fultz (105) powered past the Cubs' Kyle Francis via third-period fall for the lightweight title.

At 173 pounds, Daniel Welborn also battled his way to the finals for Corning, settling for the silver after losing to Lassen's Brad Memmott.

Sean Lowe (114) reached the finale but succumbed to Cody Veatch of West Valley by a score of 6-1.

Derek Wais (287) couldn't hang on against Anderson's Europa Mataia, losing by fall with seven seconds remaining in the match.

Other Cardinal wrestlers making it to the medal round were Franky Maaele (127), Cole Holland (137), Jonathan Jones (162), Erik Miranda (217) and Israel Medina (287).

Maaele, Jones, Miranda and Medina earned bronze titles and Holland placed fourth.

The Cardinals (3-1 NAL, 3-4) will send their top wrestlers to Palo Cedro for the Foothill-hosted Division I Championships this weekend.

Junior varsity

The Cardinals junior varsity placed second at the NAL Tournament, just a few points shy of West Valley, 177-174.5, with nine individual finalists.

Winning gold titles for Corning were: Elias Vallejo (105), Dominic Azevedo (147), Roy Madrigal (173) and Noe Hall (217) while teammates Ramon Lopez (132), Ty Smith (154), Noe Franco (191), Daniel Miron (287) and J.C. Jensen (162) all took second.

Martin Solano (114) also earned a bronze title for the Cardinals JV.

NAL Wrestling Championships

Team Standings

1. Anderson, 198.5

2. Corning, 195

3. West Valley, 124

4. Lassen, 123

5. Central Valley, 38.5

JV Championships

1. West Valley, 177

2. Corning, 174.5

3. Anderson, 121

4. Lassen, 56.5

5. Central Valley, 32