By Lilian Nguyen
On Friday, Jan. 13, and Saturday, Jan. 14, Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) hosted the yearly Five Counties Tournament and took home third as a team with a total score of 198.5 points.
With fifteen of FVHS’s wrestlers participating, six wrestlers scored in the top eight.
Junior Ryland Whitworth and senior TJ Mcdonnell both took home first place in their respective weight classes of 195 lbs and 182 lbs. Coming in at second place was sophomore Khale Mcdonnell at 170 lbs. Junior Hercules Windrath took third in 145 lbs, junior Anthony Lucio took home fourth at 120 lbs and freshman Hunter Jauregui took home eighth place at 106 lbs.
As one of the most prestigious high school tournaments, the Five Counties Wrestling Tournament is known to be one of the biggest wrestling events in the west with around 82 schools competing this year as well as over 700 wrestlers coming to compete.
Preseed matches and prelims started on Friday at around 9 a.m. and finished late in the afternoon while Saturday’s matches began at around 11 a.m. and lasted until 3:30 p.m.
All FVHS wrestlers made strong efforts in the tournament with crucial points scored by Baron wrestlers in the top eight.
TJ Mcdonnell helped score a total of 35 team points with an incredible performance all around and had a quick win during the 182 lbs championship match against Primo Catalano from Chaminade College Prep School. Barely 27 seconds into the match, Mcdonnell managed to pin his opponent, resulting in an immediate win and earning him the championship belt.
Whitworth, in his weight class of 195 lbs, helped amass 34 team points and finished strong in the match for first place against Mark Ayala from St. John Bosco with a final score of 5-1, securing him the win.
TJ Mcdonnell’s younger brother, Khale Mcdonnell, also had a strong performance and contributed a total of 28 points. Reaching the 170 lbs final and going up against senior Nate Cruz of Northview High School, he was just shy of one point, losing the match with a final score of 1-2.
Obstinate and unwavering, junior Windrath’s performance during the match for third place was stellar as he wrestled an extra four periods of overtime against Clovis North High School’s Max Del Bosque, with an escape helping him to earn that one point to take third place at 145 lbs.
“[I] just kept the foot on the gas pedal and we [trained] every day for situations like [these] and I was well prepared and knew what to expect,” Windrath said.
As the match for third went on, many of the spectators grew anxious. But after Windrath secured that point, cheers exploded from the whole gym.
‘[It] was just a good feeling and relieving. It’s never ideal to be in that position but [I] just had to make the best of it and I did,” Windrath said.
The tournament concluded with a total contribution of 22.5 team points from Windrath, 19 points from Junior Anthony Lucio who placed fourth at 120 lbs and freshmen Hunter Jauregui who placed eighth at 106 lbs who contributed 16 total points.
At the tournament’s conclusion, medals were given to those who placed in the top eight and spots were secured for them on the podium.
“As a team, we did really well overall and we’re slowly putting it all together,” Windrath said.
FVHS’s wrestling team will participate in the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section (CIF-SS) finals starting Feb. 10, 2023
