Kyle Parco takes CIF State wrestling championship
De La Salle wrestler Kyle Parco became the second Spartan in two years to reach the top of the podium with a CIF State wrestling championship. The senior finished the year with 47 victories in 49 matches, winning his last 35 in a row leading to the championship.
One of the first to congratulate him on Twitter was 2018 state champ Peyton Omania, now at Michigan State. “Welcome to the club young buck” Omania tweeted after Parco’s title match. Omania, 145 pounds, was the first DLS wrestler to win a state title.
In reviewing Parco’s season, coach Mark Halvorson says, “Kyle did his job beating a lot of state ranked and state place winners throughout the season, putting himself in position to be ranked #1. But more importantly, he took care of what he could control and did not get distracted with who was beating who throughout the season when the rankings were changing weekly, which is how they seed the CIF state tournament.
“Kyle stayed focused throughout the season on the process which I believe put him in position to win the toughest state championship in the United States.” Parco transferred to De La Salle for his junior year and competed in the toughest meets this season. He won his third straight EBAL and NCS championships.
At State, Parco dominated his first three opponents before wrestling Jose Hernandez in the semi-final. He wrestled a very tactical match, winning 6-2 and setting up a match against explosive Ryan Franco from Clovis North in the finals. His coach said, “In the finals Kyle again stuck to the plan against a very skilled wrestler, pulling out a hard fought 1-0 win in his final high school match by scoring an escape in the third round.”
De La Salle earlier won its fifth straight NCS championship and 10th in the past 11 years. Parco, Dwayne Guerrero, Ben Roe, Mario Franco and Ankhaa Enkhmandakh won Section titles for DLS. Teammates Bobby Cuevas, Riley Hilt, Logan Sumulong and Lance Hackett finished in the top three to also qualify for State. Northgate’s Greg Mettler and Cole Sanchez and Clayton Valley Charter’s Jacob Sartorio also made it out of NCS. Sartorio got on the podium at State in eighth place.
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.