There may not be enough fingers to count how many Pitman High wrestlers have legitimate shots at winning state championships this year. Two of those student-athletes, Mason Ontiveros and Carter Vannest, two juniors who are each verbally committed to study and compete at the University of Oklahoma, further established themselves as some of the best in California by placing at this weekend’s Doc Buchanan Invitational in Clovis, one of the largest wrestling showcases on the west coast.
Ontiveros, who was a runner-up at 175 pounds in Bakersfield at last season’s state tournament, once again came up just short of the top spot of the podium, finishing in second place in the 178-pound bracket after an impressive two days. Meanwhile, Vannest, who advanced to the Round of 16 on the state stage, earned fourth place at 193 pounds.
The pair of individual performances helped the Pride score 58 team points and earn a 14th-place finish out of 155 programs, and the ninth-best team from within the state.
Ontiveros, the second-seeded wrestler at 178, began his tournament with a fall at the end of the first period against Poway’s Gunnar Neal. He followed it up with another pin, this time midway through the second period, over Matthew Gazda of Chander, Arizona. Ontiveros then squeezed out an 8-6 decision over Leister Bowling of Mead, Colorado in the quarterfinals. He then punched his ticket to the final with an even closer, 2-1 decision win over Clovis’ Adrien Reyes. He proceeded to drop a 7-1 decision to top-seeded Peyton Westpfahl of Liberty, Missouri.
Vannest, seeded seventh, defeated Ojas Shastri of Los Gatos by pin just over a minute into the action of the opening match in the 193 bracket. He earned another pin at the five minute, 20 second mark of his Round of 16 against Maddux Najera of Pomona, Colorado. He then lost by majority decision 15-7 to second-seeded De`alcapon Veazy of Ponderosa, Colorado. In the consolation bracket, Vannest pinned Sunnyside, Arizona’s Lucas Mata in the opening seconds of the final period. He muscled dominant 13-2 and 10-4 decisions over St. John Bosco’s Mason Savidan and Liberty-Brentwood’s David Calkins Jr., respectively, to earn a spot in the third-place match. He’d end up just losing by 4-2 decision in a rematch with Veazy.
The Pride have a week to prepare for Central California Athletic League duals begin. Conference competition kicks off Tuesday at 4 p.m. with a tri-meet against Gregori and Modesto from their home gymnasium.
