LJ wrestling: Pace and Roman take 3rd, Long and Quach 4th, Tranheim 5th in opening tournaments

Senior Charles Long, at 152 pounds, rolls poor James

Barragan of Southwest in the first two seconds

(see clock on scorer's table) toward a pin

in seven seconds in their first match of the day.

Long pinned two more opponents on the way to

taking fourth in his weight class at the

Mar Vista Battle by the Beach Dec. 3.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Freshman Noah Pace (106 pounds) placed third, and Charles Long (152) took fourth in the early-season Battle by the Beach Tournament at Mar Vista High in Imperial Beach Sat., Dec. 3.

Traveling the short way the other direction, to the University City Girls Tournament, Ella Roman (150 pounds) placed third, Maddie Quach (101) fourth, and Tora Tranheim (131) fifth in the JV portion of the tourney.

La Jolla wrestlers, 10 boys who made the trip to Imperial Beach and three girls who competed in the University City High girls tournament, began the grueling 2022-2023 wrestling tourney season by getting up close to 5 a.m. Saturday morning (in the boys' case), then meeting team members and coaches at a similar ungodly hour later in the morning to either travel to the competition or meet there.

Viking Gustavo Rinaldi (left), 160 pounds, after

his pin of first-round opponent Pedro Lopez

of Hilltop in 2 minutes, 46 seconds. Rinaldi

gained four team points but did not place.

Noah Pace, 106-pounder (right, with his dad, middle),

waits for his first bout after a first-round bye

at the Mar Vista Battle by the Beach Dec. 3.

Pace placed third in his weight class,

the best of 10 Vikings at the meet.