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PrintSonoma’s 10 qualifiers start NCS today
Lacy seeded 2nd, Serafini 6th; four Hanna Hawks in NCS event
The 10 NCS Dragon qualifiers, and their head coach Kyle Baird (front) include (from left) Chris Lohnes, Harris Meglen, Giordi Serafini, Sam Denning, Jake Randuch, Max Schimm, Alex Ohan, Jonny Amandoli, Aidan Lacy and Dalton Elster. The NCS championships at Newark Memorial High School start today and conclude tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 23, with Sonoma’s Lacy seeded second at 220 pounds and Serafini a sixth seed at 120.
Steven Serafini/Index-Tribune
In claiming last Saturday’s Sonoma County League tournament crown to complete an SCL title-sweep after going unbeaten during the dual-match regular season, 10 Sonoma Valley High School varsity wrestlers qualified for the prestigious North Coast Section championships with top-three league finishes.
The NCS event starts at 9 a.m. today and tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 23, for the placing and medal rounds at Newark Memorial High School in the East Bay. The top-three finishers in each weight class will advance to the renown state championships.
Leading the Dragons into the NCS championships were SCL title-winning co-captain seniors Aidan Lacy, Giordi Serafini and Sam Denning and junior Max Schimm, along with senior, Jonny Amandoli; second-place junior Harris Meglen and freshman Dalton Elster; and third-place senior Alex Ohan, junior Chris Lohnes and sophomore Jake Randuch.
Both Lacy and Serafini won rare NCS medals last year and are seeded for this weekend’s sectionals.
In today’s NCS action, 220-pound second-seed Lacy (43-5 record) has a first-round bye and will wrestle the winner between Antioch freshman Moises Flores and Campolindo sophomore Sam Gelmis (14-10); sixth-seed Serafini (34-7), who also had an opening-round bye, will battle the winner of Las Lomas freshman Jeff Caldwell (22-10) and Pittsburg junior Jerell Vision (17-5) at 120 pounds; Denning (38-8), will take on the winner of Lick Wilmerding senior Michael Galathe (10-15) and Montgomery sophomore Justin Aarhus (25-14) at 126; Schimm (27-10) faces Windsor senior Chad Gradek (17-10) at 145; and Amandoli (13-1) will grapple the winner of Casa Grande frosh Nichlas Jensen (22-18) versus Mission San Jose junior Shane Keenan (15-21) at 195.
Rounding out Sonoma wrestlers seeing NCS action today are Meglen (23-14) versus Dougherty Valley sophomore Max Levechenko (23-11) at 113 pounds; Elster (19-18) battling San Leandro junior Demytrick Aliifua (15-11) in the heavyweight division; Ohan (18-19) challenging James Logan seventh-seed junior Zack Wally (28-7) at 170; Lohnes (24-21) versus Foothill sophomore Michael Belichak (26-16) at 106; and Randuch (26-16) taking on Mt. Diablo fifth-seed senior Nathan Benton (22-2) at 132.
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Archbishop Hanna High School’s wrestling team, in only its second year of existence, has four grapplers who qualified for NCS with third-place finishes at last Saturday’s Coastal Mountain Conference championships.
The Hanna Hawks competing at NCS today include seniors Adam Colon and Mario Harris, sophomore Alex Garcia and freshman Jose Alvarez-Mendoza.
Harris (17-3), who won three NCS matches last year, will battle John F. Kennedy sophomore Daniel SaLais (15-10) in the heavyweight division; Colon (22-6) will face Ukiah senior Alex Rodriguez (23-14) at 195 pounds; Garcia (22-12) will take on Lick Wilmerding frosh Trent Hamier (3-5) at 120; and Alvarez-Mendoza (18-12) challenging De La Salle third-seed frosh Donovin Guerrero (18-12) at 106.
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