Cautious Wildcats take first-day lead

Before allowing his wrestlers to leave the Liberty High School gym on Friday night, Las Vegas wrestling coach Aric Thomas warned them about the dangers of being in first place.

The Wildcats finished the first day of the Sunrise Regional out front with 78 points, but their coach had concerns.

"Last year, Basic had a bunch of kids get to the semifinals," Thomas said, recalling the Wolves led after the first day. "But they ended up not getting a lot of kids through to the finals. That hurt them, and that's the situation we're in now."

With consolation wrestling to begin at 10 a.m. today, several teams remain in the hunt. Foothill finished first-day action in second place with 73 points, followed by Basic (67) and Green Valley (63).

Despite Thomas' concerns, the seven-time defending Sunrise champion Wildcats appeared to be in control Friday. Ten of his wrestlers advanced to today's semifinal round, which is to begin at noon. Four more remained alive in consolation action.

"I like our chances," said Thomas, whose team dominated the second day of competition last year. "I just don't think we wrestled as well as we could have."

Las Vegas wrestlers advancing to the semifinals were De'Armon Hall (103 pounds), Jonathan Garcia (112), Hugo Carrillo (119), Brett Sampson (125), Jay Egan (130), Jeremy Dailey (140), Will Leslie (152), Roman Garcia (171), Madison Hales (215) and Austin Woo (275).

But Thomas said his consolation wrestlers also will play a big role today. "They've got to have pride and wrestle back so we can push as many to the finals as possible," he said.

Foothill will send six wrestlers to the semifinals: Zak Bench (112), Joel Olivas (119), Joseph Biaggi (145), Peter Struzik (160), Joshua Richert (171) and Mike Garcia-Guirre (275). Seven other Falcons will compete in the consolation round.

"The semifinal round is the key round," Basic assistant coach Jim Duschen said. "For all practical purposes, by the time everyone shows up for the final round, most teams are going to stay where they're at."

Wolves qualifying for the semifinals were Brian Asay (125), Mark Bleuze (130), Abraham Gonzales (135), Kelly Kofford (145) and Javier Hernandez (275). Nine others will be in consolation bouts.