Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/6877
Sports 1B Monday February 15, 2010 Monday Olympics — 1 p.m., 8 p.m., NBC; 2:30, MSNBC NCAA — Connecticut at Villanova, 4 p.m., ESPN NCAA — Kansas at Texas A&M, 6 p.m., ESPN Women's — North Carolina at Virginia, 4 p.m., ESPN2 Women's Connecticut at Oklahoma, 6 p.m., ESPN2 Spartans 3rd, Wilson wins at 215 By RICH GREENE DN Sports Editor A trio of Spartans reached the finals at Satur- day's Eastern Athletic League wrestling champi- onships and Taylor Wilson captured the 215- pound division on a day where the Spartans, as a team, came up one place short of a league title. Needing at least a second place finish to clinch co-EAL champions, the Spartans slipped behind eventual champions Chico and Foothill to finish third with 126 points. Chico became sole EAL champions with a 173-point performance behind four weight-class champions and three more second-place finishes. Foothill was second with 132.5 points. They were also represented by seven wrestlers in the finals — winning two of the matches. Red Bluff coach Dave Rottenberg said the day once again reflected how challenging the EAL can be. While another consecutive EAL champi- onship slipped by the Spartans, there were still several accomplishments Rottenberg pointed to as success stories. Tyler Demerath had a somewhat surprising run to the 127-pound final and then had a strong performance in the championship match before finally falling to the section's No. 1 ranked Efren Rodriguez of Chico. Dillon Reid made a strong run at 154 pounds, before also falling to the section's top ranked wrestler, Foothill's Travis Gallegos. Five Spartans bounced back from defeat to claim third place finishes — Kurt Buxton at 105, Dan St. John at 114, Sultan Beardsley at 132, Bryce Eggert at 162 and Taylor Wilson at 173. But the highlight for the Spartans might have been Taylor Wilson, who pinned his way through the tournament to claim the 215-pound champi- onship. After a cautious first round with Chico's Max Bristow in the finals, Wilson was able to sit-out to a Peterson to gain the advantage in the second round. "(Then) I saw his head and arm was right there and so I pinned him," Wilson said. After falling short last year, the Red Bluff senior, was excited about this year's showing. "It feels great to be a league champ," he said. The state's top ranked wrestler at 105, Chico's Nashon Garrett continued to roll with a dominat- ing 16-0 performance in the finals against Foothill's Zeke Andrade. Chico's Mason Sauseda came from behind to beat Pleasant Valley's Thomas Ocegueda in the 114-pound final 4-3. Paradise's Blain Shaw held on for a 8-6 victo- ry over Foothill's Brycent Molakides in a tightly contested 121-pound final. Paradise got a second champion at 132 pounds when Nick Morelli defeated Derek Tenkoff 7-4. Terry Matthews gave Shasta a win at 137, with a 9-3 decision over Foothill's Josh Wylder. Foothill's Chase Boontjer had no problems with Pleasant Valley's Bryant Wood in the 142- pound final, winning 15-0. However the Vikings picked up a victory at 147 pounds with Desi Rios. C.J. Berry won at 162 pounds for Chico. Peter Phelan needed overtime to earn a 6-4 win for Oroville in the 173-pound final over Chico's Ross Longnecker. Chico's Jessen Cole won at 191 pounds by defeating Shasta's Logan Ecknoff and Pleasant Valley's Kenny Young won the heavyweight title. Kyle Case (142) and Jeff Skaggs (heavy- weight) placed fourth for Red Bluff. Pleasant Valley placed fourth in the team com- petition with 111.5 points, followed by Paradise with 63.5 points, Shasta with 58 points, Oroville with 47.5 points and Enterprise with 15.5 points. The eight EAL schools along with Corning and Las Plumas will do it all again Saturday at Foothill for the Division I Championships. Daily News photo by Rich Greene Red Bluff's Taylor Wilson pins Chico's Max Bristow, Saturday, to win the Eastern Athletic League's 215-pound wrestling championship. Bulldog wrestlers win first league title DN Staff Report Los Molinos used a little home cooking to help earn their first league title in school history, Satur- day, at the Mid-Valley League Championships. The Bulldogs made the most of hosting the event, as they captured six division titles on their way to a 130 points. University Prep was second with 105.5 points followed by Esparto with 95 points. Biggs was fourth with 57.5 points then American Christian with 19 points and Redding Christian with 17 points. Jacob Haley, who won the 112- pound title and Richie Lakin, who won the 152-pound title, were named outstanding wrestlers of the tournament. Justin Emerson won the 125- pound division for the Bulldogs. Trevor Wilson won at 130 pounds, Trevor Chamberlain at 135 pounds and T.J. Larson at 160 pounds. University Prep's P.J. Vongsena won the 103-pound title. Biggs's Jake Haury won at 119 pounds, while Bulldog Candace Wabbs placed third. Chip Crawford picked up the 140 pound title for Biggs. Roman Reyes won at 171 pounds for Esparto. University Prep's Brandon Cer- vania defeated Los Molinos's Will Torres in the 189-pound final. J.T. Trujillo gave Esparto a champion at 215 pounds and Chris- tian Hosler won the heavyweight division for University Prep. Daily News photo by Geoff Johnson Los Molinos Bulldog T.J. Larson takes on Sam Oliver, Esparto, Saturday at the 2010 Mid- Valley League Wrestling Championships. NSCIF Winter Soccer Championships Boys - Division I Feb. 18, 3 p.m. Feb. 23 3 p.m. Feb. 27 #1 CORNING (15-1-0) CORNING BYE #4 Las Plumas (6-8-0) #5 Oroville (3-10-1) At higher seed #2 West Valley (7-3-0) West Valley BYE #6 Anderson (1-10-0) #3 Lassen (5-5-1) Girls - Division I Feb. 18, 3 p.m. Feb. 23 3 p.m. Feb. 27 #1 Lassen (9-1-1) Lassen BYE #4 Wheatland (7-3-2) #5 CORNING (9-6-0) At higher seed #2 West Valley (9-1-1) West Valley BYE #6 Anderson (5-6-0) #3 Las Plumas (9-2-2) Boys - Division III Feb. 18, 3 p.m. Feb. 23 3 p.m. Feb. 27 #1 LOS MOLINOS (10-4-0) LOS MOLINOS BYE #4 Esparto (5-7-3) #5 Williams (3-7-6) At higher seed #2 MERCY (10-2-0) MERCY BYE #6 Colusa (2-12-3) #3 Hamilton (8-7-1) Cardinals 2nd at NAL DN Staff Report A n d e r - son edged out the C o r n i n g Cardinals, S a t u r d a y, by the slimmest of margins at the Northern Athletic League wrestling cham- pionships. Five Cardinals won individual titles. Nathan Fultz won the 105-pound title, Tanner Johnson won at 121 pounds, Nick Johnson at 142 pounds, Billy Crawford at 154 pounds and Thomas Marshall at 191 pounds. Bowling Bowling scores for the week of Feb. 8-12 at Lari- at Bowl: Monday Mixed Nuts Rebecca Palmer 255 - 628 James Skaggs 277 Alan Kapaska 672 Tue Senior Mixers Lanny Owens 290 - 671 Pat Serna 224 - 525 Bill Shain 223 - 550 Tom Frost 207 - 488 Wed. Mens Commercial Chris Goddard 253 - 735 Ed McFadyen 246 - 640 Victor Serrano 236 - 613 Kory Gunderman 235 - 668 Fri Adam & Eve Chris Gulliford 279 - 729 Rudy Cassados 198 - 555 Bobbie Powell 158 - 430 Paula Grossman 159 - 514 McMurray takes Daytona DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Jamie McMurray held off Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win the Daytona 500 on Sunday, a finish so thrilling it just about made up for a pot- hole that nearly derailed the Super Bowl of NASCAR. NASCAR needed two stoppages of well over two hours total to patch a pesky pothole between turns 1 and 2 of Daytona International Speedway. The setback brought the biggest race of the season to a frustrating halt and had NASCAR executives fretting over the potential fallout. Hoping for a spectacu- lar season-opener to re- energize the industry, the delays instead sent NASCAR chairman Brian France into the broadcast booth to calm an agitated audience. In the end, though, the hole inadvertently See DAYTONA, page 2B