California Pintos and Lady Pintos wrestling hit the road for a visit Jan. 24 to the Eldon Quad take on Eldon, Blair Oaks and Buffalo.
However, Buffalo was unable to make the trip and it turned into a triangular between the three Tri-County Conference teams.
Due to their injuries, California had a difficult time trying to come up with points against Blair Oaks.
The Lady Pintos dropped a 60-0 decision to the Lady Falcons, while the California boys dropped a 51-30 decision to Blair Oaks. Tristan Balsley highlighted California's matchup against the Falcons with a victory by fall at 138 pounds.
Against the Eldon Mustangs and Lady Mustangs, California fought throughout the duals before falling 24-12 on the girls side and 39-27 on the boys side.
California coach John Heimann said the teams are learning to wrestle with what they have. Heimann stressed the duals were opportunities for growth.
"I thought we wrestled tough, even though we didn't get the results to show for it," he said. "Both Eldon and Blair Oaks are very good programs and they always have a tough team. We were still missing a few of our boys who have injuries, so it made it hard to win those duals. Our two girls only had matches against Blair Oaks and they wrestled tough against them, but fell short of a win in both matches."
California will return to the mat for another match Saturday night against Mexico.
Freshman Tristan Balsley won both of his matches at the Eldon Quad on Jan. 24. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior Austin Suen (top) earns a top three-point victory for California over Eldon at the Eldon Quad. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Sophomore Patrick Morrow gets a word of advice from head coach John Heimann. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Senior DJ Schneider wrestles Blair Oaks in the opening round of the Eldon Quad. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Freshman Jose Martinez wrestles against the Blair Oaks Falcons at the Eldon Quad on Jan. 24. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Freshman Jackson Hensley gets ready to wrestle the Eldon Mustangs at the Eldon Quad. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Sophomore Ivy Scroggins (bottom) wrestles against the Blair Oaks Lady Falcons at the Eldon Quad on Jan. 24. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)