ATHERTON, CA – Menlo Men's Wrestling hosted the first ever MPSF Men's Wrestling Championship Tournament in history and was able to take the team trophy, making history. The Oaks were also able to crown four individual champions on their way to claiming the team title.
 
Individual Placements
125lbs – Freshman Elijah Valencia continues to impress everyone in his debut season. Valencia had two matches on the day and was able to beat his first opponent in impressive style with a tech fall victory. In his first place bout, Valencia was able to come back in the third period with a late takedown to become the first ever MPSF individual champion.
 
133lbs – Noah Messman also had himself a day. Messman secured second place, scoring 11 team points. Messman's first win came in a hard fought 3-1 victory where he was able to secure a late takedown to continue to the first place bout.
149lbs – Noah Elliott would end up with second place and accumulated 12 team points. Elliott's semifinal victory would be a decisive 13-8 win to go onto the final bout. Elliott would battle hard but would end up falling short of claiming the 149lb crown.
 
157lbs – Ezekiel Lara would end up being the second Oak to claim another individual title. Lara would win his first bout of the day by earning a tech fall 18-1 for a trip to the semifinals.  Lara would continue his bonus point run by earning a major decision over Cal Poly Humboldt to get into the finals. The senior would fight hard and get into multiple scoring opportunities and capitalized on the situations he was given. Lara would win his bout 9-3 to make him the 157lb champion.
 
165lbs – Devon Wells fills in at 165 from being at 149 the entire season. He would drop a very close bout in the semifinals but would rebound back with a 12-3 major decision in the third place bout to secure himself bronze.
 
174lbs – Howell would earn second place after having a bye to the finals. Howell would show true grit, but fell to SF State in the championship match.
 
184lbs – Senior Maximus Zamora would deliver yet another stellar performance, claiming 1^st place and earning 20 team points. Zamora recorded back-to-back pins in the quarterfinals and semifinals before winning the title via medical forfeit from SF State.
 
197lbs – Diego Morales was the chose Oak to be placed at the 197-weight class. Morales secured a semifinal pin in 4:44 and capped off his tournament with an 11-3 major decision victory on the finals, making him the fourth and final Oak to claim an individual title.
 
285lbs – Cole Steketee would end up taking third place with 12.5 team points. After dropping his semifinal bout, Steketee would bounce back with a fall in the consolation semifinals. The Oaks were down in team points to SF State and needed Steketee to win in order to claim the team title. The Oregon native turned up his offense in order to secure a dominant 11-0 major decision win for 3^rd place and to make the Oaks tournament champions.
 
Up Next…
The Oaks are looking to prepare for the Red Hawks of Simpson University on Friday, January 31^st inside of Haynes-Prim Pavilion at 7PM. Make sure to use menloathletics.com in order to check on livestreams, live stats, and ticket links to follow along.