Wrestling is different from most other CIF sports in that winning your division CIF isn’t enough. In order to qualify for the State Championship, you have to wrestle the winners of all other divisions at a tournament called Masters Championships. Top seven at CIF advance to Masters and last year Patrick Henry qualified two wrestlers for Masters tournament and had no finalists. This year, Patrick Henry qualified six wrestlers as well as one alternate out of the ten wrestlers who went to CIF Division 1 Championships. Two Patriots were also finalists, both are brothers: Elijah Vinoray is a senior at 220lb and Ethan is 113lb freshman.
CIF Division 1 Championships tournament pitted the wrestlers from the largest schools in San Diego County and this year the division included two top 20 teams in the state: Rancho Bernardo and Poway High School.
Patriots fought valiantly, 9 wrestlers had at least one win. Notable placements were Abdullah Alshami, a freshman at 108lb placed at his first tournament and qualified for masters. Senior and Captain Mikey Krause (120lb) battled through a knee injury to take 6th in his third CIF appearance. Junior Alex Adler (128) placed 5th, a third placing at CIF in his career. Junior Barrett Talbot (138lb) placed 8th, his first placing at CIF while a first-time wrestler and senior Aedyn Jamison took 4th place at the tournament.
Two finalists were Ethan and Elijah. Ethan pinned his first opponent in the last .8s of the last period as and his second opponent of Rancho Bernardo. He lost to 5th ranked wrestler in the state from Poway in finals and is sure to meet him again at Masters tournament. Elijah Vinoray scored his 83rd win over Amir Farha of Poway 5-6 in a nail biting final match after pinning both of his other opponents in first period. He will go into Masters as a first ranked wrestler.
Next week a possible seven Patriots will compete at Masters where top four advance to State Championships in Bakersfield.
Henry-Wrestling 