RESULTS
ATHERTON, CA – After a successful home dual against Indiana Tech, the Oaks wanted more! Menlo College hosted the Menlo Open inside Haynes-Prim Pavilion all day on Saturday. The tournament featured all levels of competition ranging from junior college to NCAA DII and DI opponents. The Oaks entered 25 grapplers to take the mats for their first tournament of the 2023-24 season. Menlo finished the day in 3rd place as a team with 13 wrestlers placing in the top 6. #3 Jovan Garcia (133) and Kanai Tapia (157) each took 1st place in their respective weight classes!
Leading the Way
#3 Jovan Garcia (133) - 1st place
The All-American from Tolleson, Arizona was ready for his first mat appearance in his senior season. Garcia began his day with a tech fall win over Izrheal Rivera (Unattached) by a score of 17-1. His next match was against Hayden Zinkin (CSU Bakersfield) where he won by a decision of 9-3. In the semifinals, his next opponent would be Chase DeBlaere (Oregon State). Jovan punched his ticket to the 1st place match after a 9-1 major decision victory. It was between Jovan and Santino Sanchez (CSU Bakersfield) for the 133 title. Both wrestlers left it all on the mat to go into overtime rounds. There, Jovan earned a takedown to win in sudden victory (8-5) to take 1st place!
Kanaipono Tapia (157) - 1st place
Kanai was fresh off of his first Menlo victory over Indiana Tech's #3 Nate Wheeler coming into today's tournament. A first round bye would send Tapia to wrestle against Islam Abdullaev (Unattached) where he would win by major decision (13-3). He quickly ended the quarterfinals match by tech fall (17-0) over Devyn Flores-Che (CSU Bakersfield). His final two opponents would be against NCAA foe Cal Poly. Kanai first went through Gavin Fernandez to make it to the championship round by decision (9-4). In the 1st place match Tapia would face off Devin Alexander for the 157 title. The two competed hard to keep a low scoring bout that resulted in a 2-1 decision in favor of Kanai. The sophomore from Halawa, Hawaii has shown incredible performances so far in his Oak career now beginning the season 5-0 with a tournament Champion title under his belt!
Top of the Pack
On top of two 1st place finishers, there were 11 other wrestlers to finish in the top 6 of the Menlo Open across 7 weight classes. #11 Isaiah Morales (184) would make it to the championship match after taking victories over Indiana Tech, San Francisco State, and Menlo opponents. He would face off John Knight (Oregon State) in the 1st place match. Morales just fell short by a decision of 15-8 to take home the 2nd place title. #1 Rysan Leong took 3rd place in the 165 weight class after going 4-1 on the day. His first two wins were tech falls over Skyline College (15-0) and Sierra College (17-0) before facing off San Francisco State rival Kyle Botelho. The two would wrestle into double overtime where Botelho would add up more riding time to win the match. Leong would wrestle back to the consolation 3rd place match where he would win by decision, 4-1 over Seth Borba. Borba showed promising performances still as he went 3-2 on the day taking wins over San Francisco State and Indiana Tech.
#4 Maximus Zamora went 4-2 to earn 4th place at 174. He would total a pin, two decisions, and one major decision victory. Oaks that found 5th place were Jeremiah Steele (133), Max Welch (184), and Hunter James (197). The final four Menlo wrestlers to place 6th would be Mathias Collins (157), #17 Ledger Petracek (174), Kannon Campbell (184) and Michael Rhea (HWT). Menlo placed almost half of the wrestlers they entered into the Menlo Open with most of them beginning their college career this same day. Menlo walked away 3rd place as a team with 132 points.
Up Next….
The Oaks travel to Des Moines, Iowa for the Grand View Open happening on Saturday November 11! Trackwrestling live stats will be available on Menloathletics.com.