The top 40 wrestlers from the 14 weight divisions of high school wrestling were brought together for the CIF Wrestling Championship last week. The Benicia High School wrestling team attended this tournament as 4 of their teammates entered the competition. Juniors, Basil Othman, Lorenzo Gunn, and Mia Bonotan all competed in the event along with senior, Amanda Ajari.
With the chance of being announced as one of the top wrestlers in the state of California, each of these wrestlers had a lot on the line. All the competing wrestlers felt the nerves of the competition. Basil Othman spoke his mind on how he felt before his matches by saying “I was scared. I thought, ‘I’m at state, can I really hang with these guys,’ but when I walked through the tunnel at the state tournament right before my match and I thought, ‘you know what, I’mma mess this dude up.’ I deserve to be here… I work way harder than any of these people.” With the amount of effort and dedication these wrestlers put towards this sport, they know how strong they are and where they deserve to be.
Although none of the four Benicia wrestlers placed in the top five, they all reached the top 20 for their division, with Basil Othman reaching top 12 for his.
Congratulations to all of the Benicia High School students who made it this far, and we wish good luck onto all of their future endeavours.
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