Although the regular wrestling season is finished, the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League will be well represented by San Lorenzo Valley and Scotts Valley high schools at the Central Coast Section wrestling tournament this weekend.
The CCS tournament runs Friday and Saturday, Feb. 25 and 26, at Independence High School, 1776 Education Park Drive, in San Jose.
Eleven local wrestlers secured CCS invites by finishing in the top two places at the SCCAL league finals Feb. 17 at Soquel High.
San Lorenzo Valley
SLV’s Logan Kellogg, who is wrestling at 189 pounds, is the only local wrestler competing in this year’s tournament who won CCS and advanced to state in 2010.
Kellogg, who won the SCCAL tournament at 189 pounds, will be accompanied to this season’s CCS tournament by Ben Landauer (215) and brothers Daniel Kraft (119 pounds) and Michael Kraft (112).
Michael Kraft won the SCCAL title at 112 pounds, and both Daniel Kraft and Landauer placed second.
“We did really well,” Cougar coach Ken Pollastrini said. “We missed some opportunities, but now our goal is to get these boys to state.”
Scotts Valley
The Falcons, who finished as runners-up in league dual meets to Aptos High, qualified six wrestlers for the CCS tournament.
On Feb. 17, Kevin Eddington took the SCCAL crown in the 103-pound weight class. Teammate Drake Smith claimed the Falcons’ only other first-place finish, beating SLV’s Landauer in the finals of the 215-pound division. The win bumped Landauer to the No. 6 seed, and Smith moved into the No. 5 ranking in the CCS.
“It was hard falling to Aptos,” Scotts Valley coach Jared Norman said. “But hey, we have six good wrestlers in the CCS tournament.”
Accompanying Eddington and Smith to the CCS tourney will be teammates Anthony Smith (130), Chris Youmans (145), David Nice (152) and Baldan Dashiev (160), who all took second in the SCCAL tournament.
In addition, Shelby Baker will wrestle in the girls wrestling state finals Friday and Saturday at Lemoore High in Lemoore.
The CCS boys qualifiers will compete for a berth to the state meet at RaboBank Arena in Bakersfield on March 5 and 6. The top three finishers in each weight class at the CCS tournament will advance to the state meet.
