YORK, PA. – Led by a pair of undefeated wrestlers in Derrick Barrows (80lbs) and Apollo Cruz (100lbs), the Cali Gold team finished in second place after two grueling days of nationally-ranked youth wrestlers at the 2019 Columbus Days Duals held at the York Expo Center starting Saturday, October 26 and ending Sunday, October 27.
Barrows finished the two-day event with an 8-0 record. He recorded five wins via bonus points with his closest match being a 2-0 win in the championship pool versus Wyatt Lewis of Cali Red. Cruz went 5-0 at 100-pounds with three wins via bonus points, while going 3-0 at 110-pounds to finish the tournament 8-0 as well.
Cali Gold was joined by Cali Red which finished in third place in the championship pool after winning pool F while blanking out Team Triumph (89-0) and Team South Side (87-0) in back-to-back wins. Their lone losses in the tournament were to Team Broad Axe Red (47-15) and Cali Gold (41-22). Undefeated for Cali Red with an 8-0 record was Xamian Salazar (60lbs), Moses Mendoza (76lbs), Christopher Creason (84lbs), and Ryan Rios at 100-pounds. Travis Grace (88lbs) finished the dual-meet tournament with a 7-1 record.
After winning pool C with wins over Dark Knights (66-6), CP WC (61-15), and Red Hawk (59-0), Cali Gold was sent to the championship pool where they were one of the favorites to finish the dual-meet event as the top team. However, Cali Gold was defeated twice in the championship pool as they lost to MFFM Supreme Seahorses (36-27) and Broad Axe Red, the eventual champions 42-21.
One would have assumed Team MFFM Supreme Seahorses would have been in the finals after defeating Cali Gold. Nevertheless, Team MFFM Supreme Seahorses lost three dual-meets to Malvern Silver (33-32), Cali Red (44-19), and Broad Axe Red (96-0) after forfeiting all 16 matches.
On criteria, due to a better record, Cali Gold was awarded the second-place trophy. Versus Broad Axe Red, Cali Gold wrestled with tenacity as Manuel Cacolio put the team first on the scoreboard after winning via ultimate tie breaker over Elijah Berry at 48-pounds.
Wins at 52, 56, 60, ad 64-pounds put Broad Axe Red up 15-3 before Samuel Sanchez (68) and Madden Skidmore (72) nailing wins; 6-5, 8-4 to put the score at 15-9. Another win by Broad Axe Red made the score 18-9 before undefeated wrestler Derrick Barrows put another foe on the loser category by winning 4-0.
Broad Axe Red put the match away after two major decisions and a fall to go up 32-9 with four matches remaining in the dual. Mario Carini (96) and Apollo Cruz (100) were the other Cali Gold members winning a match to finish the dual-meet 42-21.