De La Salle wrestling still the team to beat after 16th NCS dual championship
CONCORD, CA (Feb. 19, 2024) — De La Salle’s dominance of North Coast Section wrestling continued at the beginning of the month when the Spartans won their ninth consecutive North Coast Section Dual Team title and this weekend hope to match that streak with the team championship at the Section meet.
DLS comes into the NCS championships at James Logan High in Union City off a commanding performance last weekend at the East Bay Athletic League meet. Spartans winning league titles were Caleb Tatad (113 pounds), Gio Cuevas (116), Manuel Martir (122), Carlos Vasquez (134), TJ Arvizu (152) and Alexander Ortiz (167).
Martir was third as a sophomore at NCS and first last year. He is wrestling at 122 this weekend. Tatad also placed third at NCS the past two years. At last year’s NCS finals, Arvizu won a title while Vasquez was second and Cuevas fourth.
Tatad is the only Spartan wrestler ranked in the top 15 of the state at No. 14 in 113-pound ratings.
The dual meet championships saw DLS defeat Castro Valley 60-18, College Park 59-12 and then Granada 50-17 in the championship match.
College Park rebounded from the loss to DLS to reach the consolation bracket finals before losing to Liberty 52-30.
On the girls side there are several local wrestlers with strong podium hopes at NCS with the top four in each weight class advancing to state while only the top two boys earn State Meet berths.
Girls in contention for state
Clayton Valley’s junior duo of Abbi Cooper and Savannah Talmadge have two-years’ experience at NCS. Cooper is a two-time winner at 113 as a freshman and 106 as a sophomore. Talmadge is a two-time NCS runnerup at 101. Talmadge is currently ranked third at 122 and Cooper No. 1 at 106.
The other local top NCS seed is Northgate’s Rebecca Fletcher at 117.
College Park’s Avery Seidenspinner, Hailey Liu of Northgate, Ayaka Naddy of Concord and College Park’s Dana Giacomino are all rated with chances of winning state berths.
The season-ending CIF Wrestling Championships are in their usual home at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield next weekend, Feb. 23-25.
Jay Bedecarré
Jay Bedecarré is a long-time resident and writer in Concord and Clayton. He began his newspaper writing career while still a senior at Mt. Diablo High School and he has been part of The Pioneer since its inception in 2003. Jay also operates Bay Area Festivals, presenting events around the San Francisco Bay Area including Bay Area KidFest annually in Downtown Concord.