Ranger grapplers earn gold, silver medals
By Misty Volaski

Nordhoff's newly reinstated wrestling team is already making a name for itself, with three of the six traveling wrestlers taking home hardware in the Calabasas Six-Way Rotational Saturday.

Some teams didn't leave with a total of two medals for a full squad, and only Oxnard's very highly competitive program (they brought varsity and junior varsity squads) had a third of their lineup net medals to match the Rangers in their productivity.

Still at the base of their learning curves were rookies Michael Ring, Morgan Jerviss and Andrew Bryson. All made considerable progress by just making it into the second round of most of their matches. Sophomore Jerviss picked up a technical win with his walk-over forfeit against Crespi.

On the mat, the Ring, Jerviss (both 189 pounds) and Bryson (275 pounds) combined for a 0-9 day.

Freshman bright spot Brandon Scheff was at 103 pounds for Calabasas, and had two thrilling matches after falling to Coyote Corey Albaman.

Scheff battled the eventual junior varsity champion to a close 5-6 loss. As in his recent past, Scheff had this opponent flustered with movement. Later, frustrated himself, Scheff decided the take his disappointment out on Crespi's Justin Jones, who fell victim to the newly founded Scheff scoring machine, 10-1, in Scheff's first-ever wrestling win.

Freshman Shaun Hastie never has any problem making 103 pounds and though he spotted nearly 10 pounds every time he stepped on the mat Saturday, it was of little difference save for his very first trip out on the Coyote mats: in a controversial bout, Hastie fell short to Oxnard's Cesario, 4-6.

Hastie then proceeded to wipe the mats with the remaining varsity 103s: Crespi's Rolades and Calabasas's Guerrero. Add to that the two forfeits from Newbury Park and Chaminade, and Hastie's day was good enough for second and the silver medal.

Ben Foley continued his winning ways, and earned a gold in the 171-pound division. He polished off the day with a revenge match against his oldest friend in wrestling, Crespi's Conrad Agaganian.
The two have been wrestling each other since they were 7 years old and, said Nordhoff coach Geoff Foley.

Though Foley held the overall edge, Agaganian won a sweet victory over Foley last year at Moorpark. Foley led 11-1 going into the third period, and Agaganian rolled Foley onto his back for a quick pin.
Foley took no chances Saturday and rode Agaganian for three solid rounds and sliced and stacked Agaganian five different times for count-outs, this time winning, 13-6.

Foley will try his luck at the Gold Coast Invitational at Camarillo Saturday, and the whole squad will test their mettle at the Lompoc Frosh/Soph Tournament on Jan. 3.

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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