Panthers wrestling takes 3rd at Laguna Hills Invitational

One week after taking seventh place at the Five Counties Invitational in Huntington Beach, Porterville wrestling traveled back down south to wreck another Orange County party — this time at the Laguna Hills Invitational as they placed third overall last weekend.

Six Panthers placed among the top four of each weight division, including 103-pounder Martin Sandoval, who took first overall by sweeping three matches and defeating Laguna Hills’ Rube Acevedo.

Kevin Esquivel went 3-1 in the 112-pound division to take third place as did Kevin Hulse for the 215-pound bracket.

Michael Ruiz and Joe Duran each went 4-1 in the double elimination tournament to take third place in the 119-pound and 135- pound divisions, respectively.

152-pounder Anthony Ramos took fourth place by going 3-2 while Tyler Henry, despite finishing with a 2-2 record, just missed out on placing.

The Panthers, who were without two starters including junior phenom Shane Yacuta, earned a total of 111 points — good for third out of 24 teams, though the field was far short of host Laguan Hills’ 256 points.

Yacuta was the only Panther to place in the highly competitive Five Counties tournament after going 5-2 for seventh place in the 130-pound division. The junior sat out last weekend to rest from an already high match count this season.

Sandoval and Hulse split their respective matches in that tournament, finishing 2-2 and 1-1, respectively.

Porterville continues league play at home on Thursday against Cesar Chavez.