Feb. 12, 2025

Competing on their home mats Saturday proved to be very rewarding for the Hughson High wrestling team. Four Huskies won individual championships in their weight classes at the Trans-Valley League meet and all 13 who competed qualified for the Sac-Joaquin Division 5 Sub-Section meet this week.

“We definitely feel good,” said Hughson coach Joey La Rosa. “They wrestled great on Saturday and have some momentum. We flipped a lot of matches that we lost earlier this season.”

Leading the way for Hughson was senior Daniel Zapien at 175 pounds, who was chosen by coaches as the Most Outstanding Upperweight wrestler. He won his first TVL title by scoring a three-point takedown with 10 seconds to go to defeat an Escalon opponent 3-2.

“I can’t say how impressed we are with his heart and determination,” La Rosa said. “He always finds a way to win the close matches.”

Also earning league titles were freshman Caden Bowerman at 126 pounds, junior Landon Mason at 138 and junior Caleb Parshall at 150.

The top four wrestlers in each of the 14 weight classes Saturday earned a spot in the Sub-Section meet at Calaveras High School on Friday and Saturday. From there, the top four qualify for the Masters meet in Stockton on Feb. 21-22.

“Escalon is still the favorite, but we think we’re one of the top teams,” said La Rosa, whose team tied with Ripon for second in the TVL behind Escalon. “We’re excited, but you’ve got to earn it every week. That’s the beauty of wrestling.”

Here’s a recap of all of Hughson’s results from the TVL meet.

113: Ethan Gagnier (sophomore, 12-12). Took second. “We moved him up from 106 and that gave him a better chance to succeed,” La Rosa said.

120: Dominic Lopez (freshman, 21-13). Took third. “He did well for a freshman. We’re proud of him,” La Rosa said.

126: Caden Bowerman (freshman, 23-12). Won. He cut weight to go down after wrestling at 132 all year. “He wrestled to his ability and when he does that, he’s hard to beat,” La Rosa said.

132: Logan Dekleva (junior, 9-9). Took second after moving up in weight. “He’s getting healthier,” La Rosa said.

138: Landon Mason (junior 22-5). Won. “He wrestled tough. He broke his opponent mentally and ending up pinning him in the finals,” La Rosa said.

144: Cameron Thornberry (junior. 10-9). Took second. “He wrestled well in first match and beat a kid from Ripon, then lost to an Escalon kid in the finals,” La Rosa said.

150: Caleb Parshall (junior, 24-7). Won. Defeated an Escalon wrestler in the finals he had lost to earlier. “I’m really happy for him. He wrestled well,” La Rosa said.

157: Gideon Benitez (junior, 12-17). Finished fourth.

165: Xavier Hernandez (senior, 20-9). Took second. “He lost to Escalon kid in finals,” La Rosa said. “Hopefully, we can get a rematch this week and learn from it.”

175: Daniel Zapien (senior, 19-9). Won.

190: Carlos Zapien (sophomore, 19-8). Took second. “He’ll have a great opportunity this week to make top four and qualify for Masters,” La Rosa said.

215: Bryce Caulkins (junior, 4-1). Took third.

Heavyweight: Ryan Lankford (senior, 5-1). Took fourth. “He lost a super-close match in the semifinals to an Escalon kid and then we defaulted him in the next round because of his shoulder injury,” La Rosa said.

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