Juarez eighth at Carter Classic wrestling tournament

Fallbrook High School senior Guillermo Juarez placed eighth in the 138-pound division of the Carter Classic wrestling tournament Dec. 4-5 at Carter High School in Rialto.

The Warriors did not place high as a team, as varsity coach Cristian Vera had wrestlers in only four of the 14 weight classes. The tournament was the same weekend as the Vista Frosh-Soph Dual tournament, so only juniors and seniors competed for Fallbrook. "I took my most mature guys," Vera said.

The combined position points gave Fallbrook 40th place in the team standings. "I think we had a pretty good first tournament," Vera said.

Juarez pinned Rudy Arteaga of Duarte High School for his first tournament victory and followed that match with a 5-2 decision win against Sam Vargas of Hesperia High School. Juarez's next match in the double-elimination tournament was in the quarterfinals against Titus Azad of Laguna Hills High School, who was seeded fifth in the weight class and finished fourth. Azad prevailed in a 9-4 decision.

Juarez's first match in the losers' bracket was a 10-2 decision over Kaomi Johnson of Carter High School. That guaranteed Juarez a final position in the top eight, but a 5-3 loss to Dominic Almeida of Serrano High School (Phelan) relegated Juarez to the seventh-place match where Brandon Rodriguez of Canyon Springs High School (Moreno Valley) pinned Juarez 1:28 into the first period.

"He wrestled some pretty tough matches," Vera said of Juarez.

If a school has more than one wrestler in the same weight class at the Carter Classic the second wrestler is considered to be part of a "B" team. That allowed both Jon Magallanes and Victor Leon to compete in the 170-pound bracket. Although Leon, who was Fallbrook's "B" wrestler, was pinned in both of his matches Magallanes reached the quarterfinals before two losses finalized his position in the top 12 but not in the top eight.

Magallanes pinned Nathan Dohan of Lakeside High School (Lake Elsinore) 1:36 into the third two-minute period and pinned Trevor Miller of Yucaipa High School 54 seconds into the first period. Eventual sixth-place Sean Brown of Yucaipa pinned Magallanes at the beginning of the third period in the quarterfinals match, and the seventh-place performance of Tahquitz High School (Hemet) wrestler Brennon Barney included pinning Magallanes 50 seconds into the third period of the match whose winner advanced to compete for specific positions in the top eight.

"He did exceptionally well," Vera said of Magallanes.

Christian Romero represented Fallbrook in the 132-pound class. He began competition by pinning Steve Gaxiola of Los Osos High School (Rancho Cucamonga) 1:40 into the match. Romero was relegated to the losers' bracket in the following match when Nick Volpe of Laguna Hills outscored Romero six points to three.

Romero then won his first two losers' bracket matches to advance to the top 12. He pinned John Caplanis of Laguna Hills 1:17 into the second period and earned a 6-5 decision in his match against Carter wrestler Marcos Aguirre. The battle for a top eight position ended 39 seconds into the match when Dante Amadeo of Santiago High School (Corona) pinned Romero.

"He had some very tough matches," Vera said.

Carlos Castro was Fallbrook's "A" 145-pound wrestler and Marc MacDermot was the Warriors' "B" grappler. MacDermot was pinned by Sal Caldera of Alta Loma High School but then pinned Terrell Meant of Lakeside High School 32 seconds into the second period. Castro followed a first-round bye with a 4-0 loss to Angel Rodriguez of Los Osos, who eventually took eighth place in the division.

Castro and MacDermot then faced each other in the losers' bracket with Castro winning by pin. Castro's participation on the mat ended in the next round when Eric Serrano of Carter won by a 7-0 decision.

Castro competed despite a thumb injury. "He fought through that really brilliantly," Vera said.