Colton’s wrestlers pin Eisenhower on Senior Night, take dual meet 52-30
Impressive wins by Joseph Duran and Santino Zamora anchor the Yellowjacket’s wrestling squad
Joseph Duran gets the best of Eisenhower’s Joaquin Castro in their matchup.
Colton, CA—In a season ravaged by COVID-19, the Yellowjackets wrestling squad found themselves finally getting healthy while their opponents, the Eisenhower Eagles, found themselves without several of their athletes. This led to a short meet with only five wrestling matches in which Colton prevailed, 52-30.
Head Coach Andrew Castro called the dual meet a “dirty win” because most of the Yellowjacket points came as the result of Eisenhower not having enough wrestlers to match up in all the weight classes.
“A win is a win,” Castro said, then added, “We had wrestlers who wrestled, and they won.”
And that win came on Senior Night for the Yellowjackets, who said good-bye to four seniors on this year’s squad: Captain Joseph Duran, Alexandro Ruiz, Crystal Torres, and Jacob Zuniga. Before the wrestling started, each of the four seniors was given the spotlight, accompanied by their families to the center mat.
Of the five wrestling matches, Colton won two of them. Duran went three tense rounds against Eisenhower’s Joaquin Castro and won by decision. This was the first time in Duran’s four years wrestling for Colton that he had been taken the distance during a league match.
“Today was a good match, for sure,” Duran said. “The guy I saw gave me a harder time than usual, but luckily I was able to come through for the win.”
In the other victory, sophomore Santino Zamora, returning to the team after testing positive for COVID, pinned Ulysses Perez in the first round of their match. This is his second victory on the season.
“It’s just crazy,” Zamora said. “The team had two other matches earlier and I wasn’t able to come because I was sick—I had COVID—but yesterday was my first practice. So I came out here with one day of practice.”
Coach Castro was impressed with Zamora’s grit, along with other wrestlers on the team who have battled against illness to perform. “That right there shows they have the dedication and the heart to win.”
That dedication is what Senior Night is all about as the team’s seniors take time to reflect on their high school careers.
“I’m the youngest of five boys,” Duran shared. “All of us wrestled. Me, I’ve been wrestling the longest, so I made it the furthest so far out of all my brothers. Still, I looked up to them while they were up there at their Senior Night. And now it’s kinda weird that I’m finally out here and it’s my turn now.”
Results
126 weight class
Adrian Colunga (10) loses to Mark Rivas by pin in 1st round
145 weight class
Joseph Duran (12) defeats Joaquin Castro by decision
182 weight class
Daniel Vega (9) loses to Edgar Garcia Corona by pin in 1st round
220 weight class
Santino Zamora (10) defeats Ulysses Perez by pin in 1st round
285 weight class
Adam Sanchez (9) loses to Jose Carlos by pin in 1st round
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