Monache freshman AlexAndrea Corona definitely made her mark at the State Championships in wrestling on Saturday at Bakersfield's Mechanics Bank Arena.
Corono placed fourth in girls wrestling to lead a strong effort from 12 wrestlers from Monache and Porterville High. Four other wrestlers, Porterville High's Zach Klarcyk and Khloe Soria and Monache's Bailey Hoard and Jacob Estrada also came with one win of a top eight finish and winning a medal at state, losing in the blood round.
Corona's state run got off to a rough start at 120 pounds as she was pinned by Burlingame's Laruren Aguilar in 33 seconds. Corona, though, came back to six straight matches to advance to the third place match, winning twice by pin and once by major decision. In the third place match, Corona was edged out by the No. 2 seed Kylee Golz of Trabuco Hills, 6-5.
On her way to the third place match Corona beat the Nol. 5 seed Tilly Kakuk of Chino 9-2, the No. 6 seed J.J. Deleon of Oak Ridge and the No. 7 seed Vanessa Alvarado of Highland by pin.
At 100, Hoard won her opening match 10-4 before losing to No. 6 seed Destiny Hultron of Arroyo 2-0. Hoard came back to beat No. 5 seed Lily Dizon of Pitman 4-1 and then won 13-4 before falling to Saint Francis' Eva Bhattacharya 10-7.
Also for Monache's girls Sierra Alamilla went 2-2 at 105, winning once by technical fall 17-1. At 140 Ayvah Reynoso went 0-2 for Monache.
For Porterville's girls at 115 Soria opened with a win by pin before losing her next match. She went on to win by pin and by major decision to advance to the blood round. In the blood round she lost to No. 4 seed Maggie Cornish of Tesoro 5-0. Also for the PHS girls Aaliyah Tapia went 0-2 at 135.
For the PHS boys at 126 Klarcyk came in as the No. 13 seed. He opened with a win by pin before losing to the No. 4 seed Nathan Carrillo of St. John Bosco 7-2.
He came back to win his next two matches, which include a 3-1 win over No. 12 seed Kavi Garvey of Dana Hills. He lost in the blood round to No. 7 seed Siraj Sidhu of Del Oro.
Also for the PHS boys at 150 Izaya Welsh won his first match by pin before losing to No. 8 seed Dimetry Molina of Esperanza and ended up going 1-2 in the event.
At 175 for PHS Christian Tapia received a tough draw as he lost in the first round to No. 2 seed Dylan Pile of Los Gatos. He stayed alive with a 6-5 win over Shasta's Lucas Taillant before losing to the No. 16 seed Asthon Lassig of Temecula Valley. Also for PHS, Andrew Gomez went 0-2 at 113.
For Monache's boys Estrada entered as the No. 15 seed at 132. He won his first two matches before sustaining a heartbreaking 6-5 loss to the No. 16 seed Daniel Benevides of Highland.
He came back to win by major decision 11-1 over the No. 12 seed Gabriel Pacheco of Central Union to advance to the blood round where he lost to No. 11 seed Orlon Hill of Folsom 8-4.
Also for Monache at 190 Noel Ceballos went 1-2, winning his opening match by pin. He then lost to the No. 10 seed Mason Savidan of St. John Bosco before losing to Exeter's Steven Sengprachahn 7-1.