SAN ANTONIO – Though the Palmview Lobos took home the District 31 Wrestling Championships a week ago, their showing at the Region IV tournament was not as pretty. However, Christian Garza did finish third and will be moving on to the state tournament in two weeks.

Garza won his first two matches, taking down Senon Moya of Weslaco East and Rudy Rivera of Macarthur. After losing to Will Becker of Cedar Park in the third round, Garza rebounded by taking down Nikki Rowe’s Akim Gonzalez and then Frankie Garcia of Georgetown for the third place finish.

On the girls’ side, La Joya and Juarez benefitted from strong showings.  Danae Sanchez of Juarez-Lincoln and Stephanie Ramirez of La Joya each placed second in their respective weight categories. Sanchez competed in the 148 weight class, losing to Lisa Gonzalez of Rio Grande City for the title. Ramirez was in the 185 weight class and lost in the championship to Dominique Turner of Churchill.

There were other boy and girl athletes who had strong showings as well.  Mission’s Mario Gomez made it to the final for fifth place before losing to Austin Boles of Austin Akins. On the girls’ side, Mallaly Aleman of Juarez finished fifth by beating Brenda Cardenas of Nikki Rowe. Also, Sandra Munoz took fourth after losing to Christine Chessher in the 215 weight class.

For the actual brackets, click here for the boys and here for the girls.