Four Pondo wrestlers win at 5A state

Pomona takes team championship

BY JIM BENTON

Ponderosa had four individual state champions at the Class 5A state wrestling championships but the Mustangs once again came up short in the team race.

Pomona won its fth straight team championship with a record 278.5 points on Feb. 18 at Ball Arena while Ponderosa was the runner-up with 190 points. e Mustangs have nished second four times in the past ve seasons.

Ponderosa’s state champions were freshman omas Verrette, who whipped Mark Cardenas of Pomona 10-1 to captured the 126-pound individual title, and junior Jacob Myers won his second consecutive state title with a pin in 35 seconds during the 132-pound title match.

Senior Brandon Cannon, who is bound for Ohio State, had two broken ngers but outlasted Jakob Romero of Pomona, 1-0, to earn a welldeserved 138-pound championship. Tyler Eise took a 16-1 technical fall decision over Castle View’s Ian Crabtree to capture the 175-pound state title.

Other Pondo wrestlers on the podium were 113-pounder Jaylen Burge and DJ Wince at 120 pounds, who were both second. Senior Peyton Harris, a 150-pound contestant, nished fourth and 190-pounder Westin Ho schneider was third.

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“It seems like every year I come here, Pomona just comes out harder and harder every time,” said Myers. “ eir kids just seem to get it done. We just we fall short sometimes. Pomona has a great lineup and they will continue to have a great lineup.

“ ey are talking about all the younger kids they have. It really comes down to what our young kids can do.”

Pondo’s four individual state champions were highlighted by Cannon’s win after his tough battle to even be wrestling again.

I was happy with the way a lot of the guys on the team wrestled,” said Mustangs coach Jarion Beets. “We snagged a lot of state titles. It was a great win for Brandon Cannon. We’ve been in a lot of di erent tournaments but this was the one we really wanted. is is the one he really needed to cap o his high school career.”

Cannon had an aneorysmal benign bone cyst removed and then had a kidney infection which forced him out of action during his sophomore and part of his junior seasons, but he notched a satisfying win in the 138-pound championship nale and celebrated by heading to the emergency room to take care of his ngers.