Alde Nguyen
Online Sports Editor
The Mustangs stampeded their opponents to the mats, with six wrestlers individually placing at the Andrew Pena Classic tournament.
Mira Costa’s boys wrestling team placed fourth out of 14 teams at the Andrew Pena Classic on Saturday at Irvine High School. Junior Tyler Gordon and senior Jamie Krigsman were top performers who reached the finals in their respective weight group.
“Our team wrestled well, but we still have several errors we need to work on and fix once we get in the room,” Gordon said. “By improving on these errors, hopefully, we can place higher individually and as a team at our next tournament.”
At the 138 pound weight division, Gordon routed his opponents to win the tournament and place first. Gordon was honored the Most Valuable Lower Weight Wrestler for his two consecutives pins in his first two matches and his win by decision in his finals match.
“This tournament was probably my best tournament of the year so far because I did very well when competing with the other wrestlers,” Gordon said. “I am happy with my placement and I will keep on learning to improve upon my technique in order to continue my success.”
In the 145 lbs weight division, senior Will Curtis grabbed a third place ranking. Curtis went 1-2 overall in his three matches, winning his first match by a pin but losing his other two matches by 10-2 and a pin.
“Overall, I placed decently well but I feel I came out the gate a little slower than usual and could of wrestled better,” Curtis said.
Junior Bobby Millea and seniors Jamie Krigsman, Hanul Kim, Joseph Smith all placed at their upper weight classes with Krigsman placing second and the others clinching a third place award. Krigsman made it into the finals match at the 195 pound weight division but lost to his opponent by a major score of 9-1.
“I came into this tournament not knowing what to expect and not recognized as a threat in my weight class, but I made sure that when I left the tournament my name was heard because I was able to place top three out of the thirteen other wrestlers,” Smith said.
The Mira Costa boys wrestling team is now 3-0 overall, placing at all of their tournaments. They will next face off against the West Torrance Warriors in a team dual meet on Thu. December 14th at West Torrance High School.. The team specifically needs to improve on their takedowns in the neutral position in order to win at this next dual meet, says Gordon.
“I expect for us to win by a large margin at the West Torrance dual meet compared to last time because this year we have a lot of returning seniors who were also in the lineup last year,” Gordon said.
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