ATHERTON, Calif. -- Vanguard men's wrestling had one of its best debuts in recent memory with four podiums and one fourth-place finisher.  Zachary Klarcyk won gold, with Bryant Avila and David Baxter taking silver.  Marquize Brown had a bronze and Keagen Kroeger placed fourth.
 
 
What Happened?  Jovanni Evangelista had his opening act today at 125 pounds and he took on Mason Barros-Santiago of Rio Honda College to kick off his year.  Evangelista made the first takedown in the first period, but Santiago made an escape and a takedown to vault ahead 4-3.  Each wrestler made one escape the rest of the way, with Barros-Santiago winning 5-4.  Evangelista bounced back, though it came at the expense of teammate Sid Barron, who Evangelista beat 8-4.  The freshman moved on to face Hayden Ancheta of San Francisco State, but Evangelista could only muster one takedown in a 12-6 defeat.  Barron had dominated Jhey Sarique of Skyline CC 17-1 in his first match, but then lost to Paulo Valdez of Victory Valley CC 21-6, which set up his defeat to Evangelista.
 
133 Pounds: Klarcyk started his VU career against Menlo's Noak Koyama and Klarcyk bided his time, earning points off penalties and one more at the end for riding time for a 3-1 decision.  He then tossed Dominic Marquez of Cuesta College around for a 13-4 victory to move forward to face Saxton Scott of CSUB.  Klarcyk made the lone takedown of the meeting in the second period, and though Scott got a reversal in the third, Klarcyk led 4-3 and used an escape to claim the match 5-3.  He then faced Leo Macias of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the title tilt, and Macis had the opening point off an escape in the middle frame.  But Klarcyk made an escape to tie things in a third and a takedown soon thereafter to surge ahead 4-2, the score he would take the gold medal with.
 
Robert Villegas faced Tristen Lorraine of CSU Bakersfield, and though he held his ground well, he could not generate a point, and Lorraine made a takedown in the second period for a 6-0 win.  Villegas then moved past Landen Prather of Hope International with a pin in the first period, which put him against Atridad Feizi of Menlo.  Despite a valiant effort, Feizi won 13-2 to advance.
 
141 Pounds:  Cash Port went 2-2 on the day, though he lost his initial bout to Cal Poly Humboldt's Tallon Chambers 5-0.  Port then beat Aaron Olvera of Rio Hono 6-1 and August Bentley of Skyline 11-2, but Khalsen Chan of SF State ended his run in the consolation bracket with a 6-1 decision.
 
149 Pounds: Avila crushed his first three opponents, beating Mikey Folch of CSUB 18-7, Alejandro Galino Lovell of Skyline 21-2, and Alek Vanbebber of Cal Poly SLO 10-2.  That put him against CSUB's Likah Labuanan, and though he fought hard, Labuanan won 11-3, though Avila picked up a silver to start his season.
 
Angel Salgado upended Vince Partington 6-3 in his first match of the year, as Salgado scored five unanswered points after Partington's takedown in the second frame.  But he then decimated Adam Duong of Rio Hondo 12-3, Lovell 11-5, and Luke VanBrabant of Cuesta 13-4 to reach the battle for third.  There, Partington faced Andrea Dargani of SF State, and while Partington gave it his all, he could not get much going, falling 7-1.
 
157 Pounds:  Rafa Marquez beat Everardo Gonzalez of Victor Valley CC 15-3 to start the day but could not generate sustained offense going after that, falling to Jose Farias of CSUB 18-3 and Gavin Fernandez of CPSLO 18-2.  Randy Lockwood took an opening defeat to Victor Valley's Chris Guerrero 20-4, but bounced back with a big 17-1 win over Neil Tria of Skyline.  He then edged Larry Cruz of Rio Hono 5-3 with four straight points after Cruz's lone pin.  Cuesta's Grant Ekland could not wrestle, so Lockwood carried on to face Jack Consigllo, but the unattached wrestler won 19-4.
 
165 Pounds: Sunni Motas opened his year with a win over Thomas Venezia, with Motas leading 4-2 after two periods  Venezia made an escape and a takedown to climb ahead, but Motas countered with his own escape and takedown to secure an 8-6 decision win.  Motas then lost back-to-back 7-2 matches against SF State's Kyle Botelho and Coen Quintana.  Cole Shafer only got an escape in his first match against Willy Lamacchia, falling 6-1.  Shafer replied with a 10-5 win over HIU's Jacob Ramirez before taking a second loss to Cal Poly Humboldt's Kash Hendrick 18-1.
 
174 Pounds: VU had Keagen Kroeger in the bracket and he opened the event against Josiah Hurd of SF State, and though he got the first takedown, Hurd took the match 11-6.  Kroeger then held Antonio Avila of Victor Valley and made two takedowns to advance with a 7-2 victory.  That moved Kroeger to a contest against Kodie Cooks of Cuesta, and Kroeger again struck for the first takedown.  Unfortunately, Cooks scored the next five points to win, placing Kroeger in fourth in the division.
 
184 Pounds:  Brown dropped a very close encounter with Ryan Clink of CPSLO 4-2, with Clink winning on a takedown with 16 seconds left in the third period.  Undaunted, Brown strolled through the consolation bracket without giving up another point.  He beat Joseph Estrada of Menlo with a pin in the first and then did the same to Gavin Funk of SF State.  He then ripped through Luca Ciabattari of Skyline with a 15-0 win and took third with a 14-0 blanking of Carlos Garcia.
 
197 Pounds:  Asa Goff began his collegiate wrestling career today but only got escapes in an 18-3 loss to Diego Morales of Menlo.  He then got his first takedown against Juan Carlos Escutia of MC but could not make another, falling 13-7.
 
285 Pounds:  Baxter put on an immediate show by trouncing Joseph Chavez of Rio Hondo 13-1 before getting the lone takedown against Menlo's Cole Steketee to prevail 4-1.  That got him to the tussle for first, but Baxter could not score against SF State's Nathan Glass, who won 10-0.
 
What was Said?  "Overall, this was a good start to our season.  Our guys competed extremely hard and some of our young guys got some very valuable experience.  It was all highlighted by freshman Zach taking first," said Head Coach Caleb Flores.
 
What's Next?  The men return north next Saturday for a dual at SF State against Western Colorado.