Los Alamitos High’s boys wrestling team came away from the Newport Harbor Classic Wrestling Tournament with a fourth place team finish and four wrestlers who placed in the top five of their weight divisions. The Griffins were just 4.5 points behind Dana Hills for third place and they were the No. 2 team out of Orange County in the final standings.

Cypress High posted the eighth best team score, but was the No. 3 team out of Orange County. Vince Partington, of Cypress, reached the finals of the 150-pound division before losing in double-overtime to Carlos Valdiviezo of Poway.  Dylan Thienngern reached the semifinals of the 157-pound division before falling to Bradley Espinoza of Brea Olinda. Lincoln Chung, the 138 pounder for the Centurions also made it to the semifinals, winning three matches by fall, or technical fall, before losing on a technical fall to Edwin Sierra, of Poway. 

Poway and La Costa Canyon, both out of San Diego County, were first and second, respectively. For the Griffins, their showing reinforced the pre-season optimism Head Coach Mark Ruiz had for this year’s team. Despite fielding some young athletes, the Griffins sport some talent. Senior Samuel Yokoyama is ranked fourth in Orange County in the 144-pound division. The Griffins have two sophomores ranked in the county top 10; Logann Ruiz ranked 8th in 106 and Adam Salas, ranked 3rd in 157. 

Despite the fact that wrestlers compete individually on the mat, Mark Ruiz said the Griffins are pushing a total team concept in an attempt to challenge for a league title, in a touch Sunset League, and a team CIF-SS title this season.

“Wrestling is thought of as a lonely individual sport. We’re changing that mindset and focusing on wrestling as not only an individual sport, but as a team sport,” Ruiz said.

In addition to the four top-five finishes, the Griffins had four others finish in the top 8. Logann Ruiz took home second place after reaching the final match in 106. He would lose a close 10-7 match to Elijah Ramirez of Mission Viejo. Salas took home third place in 157 after dropping a semifinal match to eventual champion Anthony Manno of Newport Harbor. 

Mekhi Yanthis was fourth in 132 and Yokoyama finished 5th in 144. Mark Ruiz said the coaches have put an emphasis on having the team captains lead the team by example and that it has flowed down through the jv and freshman teams, as well as the girls team. The Griffins have a freshman girl, Mia Gil, who is already a varsity stand out. 

They are buying into the belief that they are one of the top teams in Orange County and can’t wait to see where this new mindset takes us,” Ruiz said.