For the first time in its three-year history, the wrestling team fielded a sizeable team—seven wrestlers—and sent senior Omar Eltorai to the sectional finals in Ripon, Calif.

In sectionals, the top four wrestlers from the league—including Cordova, San Juan, Encina, Highland, Lindhurst and Marysville High Schools—advance. Eltorai, who was ranked fifth, was able to wrestle in sectionals due to an injury of a top-four wrestler from San Juan.

In his first match, Eltorai lost on points, 6-0. In his second match, the last of his high-school career, he opened in an unusual way.

“[The coach] asked me if there was anything I wanted to do for my last match,” Eltorai said. “I said I wanted to open with an ankle dive.”

“A Cordova wrestler who I look up to opened with [an ankle dive] during every practice. [The ankle] dive worked well [for me] at practice and [junior] Miles [Bennett-Smith] and [sophomore] Zach [Eltorai] told me to open with it [in a match].”

But after Eltorai anxiously jumped when the referee blew the whistle for shaking hands, his opponent was able to recognize what was coming and defend it.

Eltorai was later pinned in the first round of that match, ending his high-school wrestling career.