By Ansharah Asif
On Friday and Saturday, Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) hosted the annual Five Counties Wrestling Tournament and ranked third overall as a team with 201 points.
Seniors Zachary Parker and Justin Rodriguez took home first place in their weight classes of 145 lbs and 126 lbs, respectively. Coming in at second place in their respective weight classes was senior Sean Solis at 132 lbs, junior TJ McDonnell at 182 lbs and sophomore Ryland Whitworth at 195 lbs. Sophomore Hercules Windrath took home 5th place in 152 lbs, and freshman Khale Mcdonald took home 7th place in 170 lbs.
“I was really proud of how the boys performed this weekend! I think it’s the highest finish for FV[HS] at our own tournament, so it’s always a great feeling to set a new standard for our program,” Coach Daniel Woiwor said.
The Five Counties Wrestling Tournament is known as one of the biggest high school wrestling tournaments in the country and within the wrestling community. About 94 schools and teams from across the country came to compete in the tournament. It took place after a year and a half as it was postponed due to the pandemic.
The competition began on Friday at 8 a.m until 4 p.m. and continued on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Key efforts were made by Parker and Rodriguez as they used strong offense and pins to persevere in each of the four championship rounds. They contributed 33 and 32 points, respectively, to the team’s efforts.
“I felt good about our results because we showed out and had almost half the team in the finals,” Parker said.
The Baron wrestlers will participate in California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section (CIF-SS) duals finals starting on Jan. 29.
