Avila wins title, Stallions advance
For The Madera Tribune
Madera’s Madison Avila stands atop the podium after winning the Area championship last week. She stood atop the podium this weekend after winning the CIF Central Sections Master’s Tournament at 103 pounds.
The state’s top-ranked wrestler at 103-pounds, Madera’s Madison Avila, proved to the Central Section why she is ranked so high.
Avila won the Central Section title with a dominant run through Saturday’s CIF Central Section Girls Wrestling Master’s Tournament at North High School in Bakersfield.
She allowed just two points and recorded two pins to win the championship.
Avila won her first round match by a pin with 54 seconds left in the first period. She pinned her quarterfinal opponent at the end of the second period.
She dominated her semifinal match with a 7-1 decision. In the finals, she faced the same opponent she faced in her previous two championships (Chukchansi and Area). She recorded a takedown in the first period, but her opponent got an escape in the second. However, Avila held tough and won the championship with a 2-1 victory.
She will head to the CIF State Wrestling Championships this weekend at Bakersfield’s Rabobank Arena.
Joining Avila will be Madera South wrestlers Viridiana Cedillo and Jalitza Lopez-Valle, who placed in the top four to advance.
Cedillo won her first two matches by pin, but lost in the 128-pound semifinal match by pin. In the consolation semifinals, she pinned her opponent in the first round, but lost in the third place match.
At 237 pounds, Lopez-Valle won her first match by a first period pin and advanced to the semifinals after a third period pin. However, she lost by a second period pin.
She dominated her consolation semifinal match with a pin in the first period. However, she lost by a second period pin in the third place match.
Elizabeth Rojas-Ramos also picked up wins in the first two rounds at 191 pounds. She got a first period pin and a 4-2 decision, but lost in the semifinals. She lost in the consolation semifinals, 2-0, but won the fifth place match, 2-1.
Freshman Evangelina Mejia lost her first match at 118 pounds. She won her next match by a pin before the first period buzzer and her next match by a 9-6 decision. However, she lost her next consolation match by pin and fell by pin in the seventh-eighth place match.
Madera South’s 172-pound area champion Kalissa James lost her first two matches of the afternoon and was eliminated.
