The annual BVAL wrestling tournament was held on Feb. 12 at Lincoln, and the Warriors came out on top among Santa Teresa Division participants.

As a team, Westmont finished fourth overall with 143 points. Nine Warriors will continue the season at the Central Coast Section tournament on Feb. 25­26 at Overfelt, with two of those wrestlers advancing as BVAL champions.

Preston Falbo, at 142 pounds, was the first Warrior to claim a championship, and Jim Shea won a league title at 162 pounds for Westmont.

Craig VanBuskirk was second at 173 pounds, Tyler Porras was second at 217, Tony Christenberry was fourth at 121, Chris Sutton was fourth at 132, Ramsey Habib was fifth at 277, R.J. Randhawa was sixth at 105, and Cameron Gustafson was sixth at 114 to round out the list of Westmont placers.

Falbo defeated Eli Chaisez of James Lick in his final match to secure his title. Falbo took the early lead with a quick two-point takedown, but neither combatant was able to score another point before the end of the round. In the second round Falbo put up three points with an escape and another takedown. It wasn't until the third round that Chaisez scored at all with a two-point reversal. But Falbo was able to hold on to his 5-2 lead for the win.

Falbo also defeated Omar Armenta of Silver Creek, Darren Gobin of Leigh and Bobby Lopez of Willow Glen to advance to the final round of the tournament.

Shea also secured a championship for Westmont when he defeated Jace Guibor of Branham 11-9 in the finals. Shea showed a valiant effort in his match, falling behind 5-0 almost immediately to Guibor. It wasn't until late in the first round that Shea even scored his first points, with a one-point escape and a two-point takedown but he still trailed 5-3.

Shea took the lead early in the second round with a three-point near fall, but lost it to Guibor on a two-point reversal shortly after. After picking up a point for a penalty on Guibor, Shea scored a two-point reversal to end the second round up 9-7. Guibor tied the score early in the third round with a reversal, but Shea stole the lead away again with a reversal of his own.

Shea defeated Julio Gomez of Overfelt and Randy Perez of Oak Grove before making it to the final round.

VanBuskirk finished second when he lost his final match to Caleb Orozco by fall with only 21.6 seconds left in the match. VanBuskirk was trailing the entire match, scoring only one point and allowing 11. Earlier in the day, VanBuskirk defeated David Corey of Oak Grove and Nick Celario of Silver Creek to make it to the championship match.

Porras also finished second in the BVAL after a loss to Mark Tavares of Mount Pleasant in the championship match. Porras led early with a takedown, but Tavares tied it with a reversal. After the first round, the score remained tied, and in the second round it was only Tavares who scored a takedown to take the lead, 4-2. Tavares scored another three points on a near fall before the clock ran out and Tavares took the win 7-2. Porras was able to defeat Ziad Alhelew of Santa Teresa and Gerardo Cisneros of Willow Glen earlier in the day.

Christenberry took fourth in the tourney. He lost to Johnny Raquinio of Santa Teresa 9-1 in his final match for third place. He defeated Brian Watts of Pioneer in the consolation round before taking fourth place. Christenberry's first loss came to Jemar Pasag of Independence after defeating Steven Lamb of Silver Creek to advance past the first round.

Sutton also finished fourth, losing to Tuan Nguyen of Pioneer in an attempt at third place. Sutton bested Brian Tano in the fourth round of the consolations. Sutton also won his matches against Scott Huggins of Lincoln and Jacer Balubal of Silver Creek. Sutton's first loss actually came to Nguyen in the second round of the winner's bracket after defeating Cody Owsley of Gunderson in the first round of the tournament.

Habib took fifth place at 277. His last match was against Tyrell Clinkscales of Oak Grove. Habib lost 3-2 after beating Jon Friedman of Leland in the first round of the consolations.

Randhawa finished in sixth at 105. His last match was a loss to Felipe Zamudio of James Lick.

Gustafson finished sixth at 114. His final match came against Devin Mastuda of James Lick where he lost 6-0. Gustafson defeated Eric Tillbury of Del Mar, and Oswaldo Michele of Willow Glen in the consolation bracket after losing to Andre Gonzalez in the winner's bracket.

Navarro nails second

Israel Navarro finished second at 154 pounds for Prospect in the tourney. Navarro lost the championship match to Eric Carlos of Silver Creek by way of pin after only 1:34 of the match. Navarro defeated Terrance Farris of Oak Grove, Doug Shehan of Branham and Michael Bacani of Willow Glen to progress to the final round.

Prospect's William Hoppner finished in a tie for sixth with Jacob Deleon of Lincoln. The match ended in a no-decision.

Prospect also had two seventh-place finishers in Danny Mirabal at 127 and J.P. Nation at 217.

Damonte grabs a sixth

Del Mar didn't have a lot of success at the BVAL tournament, but the Dons were able to come away with a sixth place finisher, two sevenths and two eighths.

Dustin Damonte finished sixth at 191. Damonte's final loss came at the hands of Jonathan Sanches of James Lick after two wins in the consolation bracket.

Ray Caulderon finished seventh at 147, Eric Tillbury was seventh at 114, Thomas Johnson was eighth at 162 and Mike Tillbury was eighth at 142.