On Feb. 21, eight of Aliso’s top wrestlers competed in the Masters tournament. Overall, Aliso placed 39 out of 56 and scored a total of 26.0 points.
The Master’s Tournament is broken up into four separate categories based on previous matches and the wrestlers’ rankings. These categories are blue, gold, upper blue, and upper gold. From there, wrestlers are distributed by weight class.
Aliso had two girls competing in the blue division, juniors Kai Libunao and Erika Montes. In the gold division, juniors Chanel Corredor, Niva Strasser, and Lexi Dillard competed. In the upper blue division, junior Valeria Alsonso battled it out. The highest division, upper gold, had two Aliso wrestlers, Shelby Colwell (sophomore) and Josephine Rettick (junior).
Unfortunately, none of the wrestlers made it further than the quarterfinals in the championship bracket, however, every girl made it through at least one round in the consolation bracket.
Libunao lost to Itzel Herrera (Corona) by fall in round one of the championship bracket. In round one of the consolation bracket, Libunao won by fall over Daniela Angeles (Poly/Long Beach). In round two, she beat Naleah Ledesma (Hillcrest) by fall. In the semifinals, she unfortunately lost to Itzel Herrera again, but this time by technical fall, 1-18. Overall, she scored nine of the 26 of Aliso’s points.
Montes lost in round one of the championship round by major decision, which is a type of victory where a wrestler wins by a point margin of eight to 14 over their opponent, to Sophia Garcia of Orange Lutheran High School. Luckily, Montes came back in round one of the consolation bracket by beating Kaitlyn Gustafson of Yucca Valley by fall. Unfortunately, Montes’s road in the Master’s Tournament ended with a decision over Savannah Gutierrez (Redlands East Valley). Montes scored 3.0 points for Aliso.
When asked about the performance of his athletes, the Head Coach of Girls Wrestling, Rich Treviño, says, “It’s unfortunate that most of my girls couldn’t make it past round one in the championship bracket. However, we were expecting to play fierce competition and I am extremely proud of my girls for being able to make it through the consolation rounds.”
Strasser’s first match was against Reighlene Valdez (Poly/Long Beach). It was a tough match by Strasser lost by fall. In the first round of consolation, Strasser received a bye and lost in round two of the consolation bracket to Sienna Montanez of Walnut.
Dillard competed against Brelynn Smith (Chaparral) in round one in the championship bracket. Unfortunately, she lost by fall. However, she beat Yaneli Puga of Orange Vista in round one of the consolation bracket. Her final match was against Schurr High School’s Bella Rose Rubalcaba. Dillard scored three team points.
CIF-SS Master’s returner Corredor lost in Championship round one by tech fall to Downey wrestler Sabrina Felix. Due to an ankle injury, Corredor was unable to compete in round one of the consolation bracket.
Another CIF-SS Master’s returner, Alonso, won in Championship round one to Mia Britt (Ayala) by fall. In the quarterfinals, Alonso lost to Alyssa Guzman of Orange Vista. However, Alonso came into consolation round two with a vengeance and beat Katherine Herrera (La Habra) by fall. Liliana Sarmiento (Jordan) won by fall in cons. In round three, Alonso scored seven team points for the Wolverines.
In championship round one, Rettich lost to Melissa Moreno (Paloma Valley) by major decision 9-18. In consolation round one, Rettich won against Lilianne Donan of Silverado by major decision 10-1. In round three of cons., Rettich lost to La Habra wrestler Jules Sitani by sudden victory 3-6. Rettich scored two of 26 of Aliso’s pints.
Our final Master’s competitor Shelby Colwell says, “I was very fortunate to compete this year; last year I battled through an injury and now I am now a CIF competitor.”
Colwell lost to Natalie Blanco of Chino by fall in round one of the championship bracket. In round one of consolation, Colwell beat Yazmin Rios (Rancho Mirage) by major decision 14-0. In her final match, she lost by fall to Temescal Canyon wrestler Gwenna Mitchell.
This year, Aliso Niguel had eight wrestlers compete in the Masters tournament, and the wrestlers can’t wait to work even harder to have another opportunity to play in one of the hardest tournaments in all of CIF.
