By Steve Ramirez
BAKERSFIELD — Glendora High School’s Haydn Scharbrough came
north with no expectations.
He returns home as one of the top high school wrestlers in the
state.
The senior took fourth place at 145 pounds to lead a group four area
competitors who earned top eight medals during the final day of the
CIF State championships at Rabobank Arena.
Also placing were Arroyo’s Christian Betancourt, who was sixth at
112; Northview’s Gilbert Nakatani, who was seventh at 119 and South
Hills’ Thomas Morales, who was eighth at 130.
South Hills’ Vincent Herrera (119) and Northview’s Bryan Salinas
(135) lost in the consolation fifth round and did not place.
Scharbrough, who was ranked No. 5 in the state coming into the
tournament, is Glendora’s first state medalist.
“I’m very satisfied,” said Scharbrough, who went 1-2 on Saturday
after winning four matches on Friday. “Before CIF, I was ranked 22,
after CIF, I was 12th, after Masters fifth. I very pleased.”

Scharbrough, who won four matches on Friday to advance to the
semifinals, went 1-2 Saturday, losing to state No. 1 Jake Elliott
(8-5) of Oakmont in semifinals and Bakersfield’s Damien Arredondo
(4-3) for third place. He beat Edison’s Brenton Visnoski (8-0) in the
third-place semifinals.
“That was a very tough match,” Scharbrough said of the loss to
Elliott. “I almost came up on top. I don’t have any regrets. I did
what I could do.
“I’m just so happy what I did this tournament. I stayed strong, so
I’m happy with that.”
Betancourt, who won three matches on Friday, took sixth after losing
to Righetti’s Josh Rodriguez (5-2) in the semifinals and consolation
bouts to Exeter’s Arnulfo Olea (fall, 4:51) and Bakersfield’s Ian
Nickell (5-1).
“I came here unranked,” Betancourt said. “I just tried to wrestle
smart the first day. The second day didn’t go as planned. I’m
pretty happy about placing sixth. I thought I did OK. Overall, it was
a pretty good tournament for me.”
Nakatani fought back for a seventh-place after losing in the
quarterfinals on Friday. He beat Victor Lopez (3-2) of Calexico in
the consolation fifth round, lost to Hermilo Esquivel (fall, 2:16) in
the third-place quarterfinals before beating Silverio Esparza (10-3)
of Lemoore for seventh place.
“I had to show people I could compete,” Nakatani said. “I had tough
matches, but I fought hard, believed in my coaches and the Northview
family.
“I was wrestling for my (wrestling) brother Jesse Cruz, who passed a
way, and my mom who passed away. My grandfather passed away a while
ago, too. I just came out here, wrestled hard and showed the state of
California that I can compete.”
Morales, who won his last four matches on Friday to advance to
Saturday, beat Oscar Lizarraga of Brawley (3-1) in the consolation
fifth round before losing consolation matches to Adam Pain (fall,
1:32) of Rodriguez and Chris Calcagno (fall, :23) of Clovis West.