Vacaville’s Peralta, Sweany into state wrestling semifinals; Rodriguez’s 3 grapplers, Wood’s Winters eliminated

BAKERSFIELD — It wasn’t quite the day the Vacaville, Rodriguez and Wood wrestling programs were looking for, but there was still some good news for the Bulldogs.

The first day of the CIF State Wrestling Championships is in the books and two Vacaville grapplers are into the semifinals.

Juniors Gionn Peralta at 106 and Jeramy Sweany at 195s are within one win of an appearance in the state finals.

Peralta (47-7) opened the tournament with three straight pins to give him 30 on the season before reaching the semis where Otay Ranch’s Tommy Espinoza injury defaulted.

Sweany (49-1) went 3-0 with two pins and a 6-3 decision over Clovis’ Matt Weiss.

The Bulldogs sent 10 wrestlers to the state tournament, but only three remain, with Chris Lai (182) going 3-1 to keep his hopes of any kind of state medal finish alive.

“Were going to have to go home and take a look in the mirror and see what we need to  do to get better,” Vacaville co-coach Adam Wight. “We came up a couple of wrestlers short (of the second day). But we’re excited about trying to get Gionn and Jeramy into the finals (Saturday).”

It was a much difference story for the Mustangs as all three of their wrestlers were eliminated on the opening day.

Brandon Vu (120) and Henry Medeiros (182) both went 0-2, while teammate Mark Papish finished the tourney 1-2. Papish edged Oscar Martinez of Centennial of Corona 3-2.

“They were a little flat and wrestled some tough kids,” Rodriguez coach Mike Clarkston said. “They didn’t wrestle terrible, it’s just the state (tournament). We brought a bunch of young kids with us to watch, check it out and see what their goals are for the next few seasons.”

Wood’s Josh Winters (220) won his first match with a pin of Manuel Villalobos of Birmingham of Van Nuys in 4 minutes, 43 seconds, but then lost his next two and was also eliminated.

Vacaville wrestlers that were eliminated Friday were Anthony Hernandez (113, 2-2 record), Kasey Klaus (120, 2-2), Cameron Bailey (126, 1-2), Bobby Ehman (132, 2-2), Hayden Fry (145, 2-2), Zach Dawson (152, 2-2) and Steven Gomez (285, 0-2).