Mira Costa’s Medvidovic takes third in CIF State wrestling meet
Mira Costa senior Sasha Medvidovic captured third-place at the State wrestling tournament for the second time in three years. File photo
While Mira Costa had a team-high five male wrestlers qualify for the Masters Meet, it was a female who outplaced them all.
Sasha Medvidovic, the lone senior on a rapidly improving Mira Costa girls wrestling team, was the first female to win a CIF-SS title this season.
Last weekend, she placed 3rd in the 150-pound division of the State championships for the second time in her career. She also finished third as a sophomore before suffering an injury last season.
After dropping her semifinal match against Selma’s Jerzie Estrada, the eventual winner, Medvidovic won her consolation match before defeating Marlene Salinas 2-0 in the third-place match.
“Our girls team finished strong,” Mira Costa coach Jimmy Chaney said. “We finished 25th in State, which is our highest performance ever. In wrestling there are no divisions at State. It is every school that has a team, going for one title. We had one state placer, Sasha Medvidovic, whom we are very proud of.
Medvidovic’s only loss was to a girl ranked 4th in the nation and finished the season with a record of 29-1. In fact, she defeated the 9th and 10th ranked wrestlers in the nation on her journey to 3rd place. Medvidovic will most likely wrestle at UCLA next year
“Though she wasn’t ranked in the top 15 of the country, she is now, and you should have seen the college coaches lining up to talk to her,” Chaney added. “Sasha is going to be missed as she goes on to wrestle in college. She has been a great leader for our team.”
The other two Costa girls who wrestled in State were Allysa Nocum, who finished in the top 12 and Viviana Ramirez, who finished in the top 24. Both are juniors and are expected to lead the Mustangs next season.
Boys season ended
The Mustangs boys had their season come to close last weekend at the Masters Meet held at Temecula Valley High School.
“Our boy’s team had five CIF placers last weekend, but unfortunately, none of them were able to get through Master’s and onto State,” Chaney said. “Nevertheless, they had a great year as a team.”
The finish was only the second time the Mustangs had five wrestlers qualify for Masters, the first coming in 2015.
Two of the Masters qualifiers were juniors Tyler and Jacob Gordon, who will be the base of returning wrestlers. The other Masters qualifiers were seniors Hanul Kim, Will Curtis and Jamie Krigsman.
Krigsman will be wrestling at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, increasing the number of Mira Costa wrestlers currently wrestling at a four year university to six.
Other wrestlers include Miles Gilliam (John Hopkins University), Jimmy Millea (Dixie State), Zach Schrader (California Baptist University) and Ariel Floro (UCLA).