HW wrestlers win tourney

HANFORD -- The Hanford West High Huskies finished 5-0 to capture the top spot at the Hanford Duals wrestling tournament Saturday.

The Huskies defeated Granite Hills 48-29, Cesar Chavez 37-29, Woodlake 84-0, Tulare Union 60-23 and Hanford 66-15.

Five Hanford West wrestlers finished 5-0 to capture all-tournament wrestlers.

Georgie Cruz wrestled at both 103 and 112 pounds, scoring two pins. Fellow freshman Harley Lima, wrestling two weight classes up at 119, went 5-0 with four pins -- all in the first round.

Huskies sophomores Juan Valdez and Johnny Pedraza, wrestling at 140 and 145 pounds, each posted two pins while going 5-0.

And Zack Zuniga went undefeated at 189, also going 5-0.

Also for Hanford West, Brandon Whitten went 4-1 with two pins at 152, and Timmie Underwood was 3-0 at 215 before being sidelined by injury. Chandler Contente went 3-2 at 160, Juan Pardo was 4-1 with two pins at 171, and heavyweight Michael Rosas was 3-2 with two pins.

The Huskies also went 5-0 in junior varsity competition, with Blaine Smith, Peter Moreno and Mira Zamora all going undefeated.

Hanford West coach Scott Davis said he was pleased with his team's performance, especially considering that four of his wrestlers missed the meet and several others had to move up in weight class to suit CIF weight regulations.

Hanford West defeated Hanford for just the second time in school history, but Davis noted that the Bullpups were not anywhere near full strength.

"All the teams were a little weak because of the CIF's alpha weight system, and it probably hurt Hanford the most,'' Davis said.

Because of weight regulations - designed to prevent wrestlers from losing too much weight too fast -- the Bullpups were missing a number of their top performers. Hanford finished its football season only two weeks ago, so wrestlers who were on the football team have not had enough time to get down to wrestling weight.