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Galant earns state berth with third; Miller sixth
By Dick Sparrer
California, here I come!
That's the tune Del Mar's Jerry Galant is singing this week after qualifying for the California State Wrestling Tournament, set for March 1-2 at the University of the Pacific in Stockton.
Galant earned his state berth by finishing third at 215 pounds at the Central Coast Section tournament held last weekend at Independence High School in East San Jose.
Joining Galant on the medal stand was Tom Miller of Westmont, who finished sixth at 189. Only the top three placers at CCS advance to state.
Galant won his first three matches at CCS before losing, then fought back for two more wins to clinch third in his weight division.
Galant won by technical fall in his first bout against John Diaz of North Salinas. The Del Mar senior handled Evan McDonald of Los Gatos 16-5 a match later, then pinned Zin Croon 37 seconds into the third round.
Galant lost a 3-2 heartbreaker to Adam Beltran of North Monterey County a match later. Beltran went on to win the CCS title in the weight class.
The Del Mar star came back with a 5-1 win over Brandon Hester of Silver Creek, then pinned third in the weight division when he won by fall against Miguel Zavala of Greenfield.
Miller, meanwhile, had to fight back after a tournament-opening loss to win five straight matches to get back into contention for a medal.
Miller lost by technical fall to Pat Varela, the ultimate champ at 189 pounds, then started his climb to the medal stand.
The Westmont senior pinned Justin Mackiewicz of Scotts Valley in 1:38, then won by tech fall over Richard Waters of Milpitas. He pinned Gerardo Vital of San Jose in 2:42, beat Brad Yanez of Lincoln 12-7 and pinned Daniel Vargas of Greenfield in 2:16.
A loss to Chris Smith of Los Gatos knocked Miller out of contention for a state berth, then he lost his last match to Matt Mallon of Pioneer to wind up sixth overall.
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Campbell, California
