TURLOCK – Samantha De La Cruz left the Rumble with a medal for the Orestimba High wrestling program.

De La Cruz, a junior, competed in the 112-pound class at the Rumble in the Jungle Tournament at Pitman High on Saturday. She posted a 3-1 record for a fifth place finish.

“She is having a heck of a season for only being a first-year wrestler; she beat the 5th and 3rd seeded wrestlers at the 112 division,” said Orestimba head coach Sergio Mar. “She is looking good going into (the Trans-Valley League and the Sac-Joaquin Section) tournaments.”

Sonora 54, Orestimba 12

Hitting the road for a TVL dual meet on Jan. 21, Warriors’ Michael Santos (140) and Daniel Santana (192) won their matches by pins in the boys’ dual meet.

The loss moves Orestimba to an 0-4 record in the TVL.

“We moved as many kids up from (junior varsity) to fill some spots, and they wrestled well showing the improvement they made,” Mar said. “But our low numbers don’t help. Not being able to fill a full line up is a big bummer. We take some strides at building a better program with the addition of the Westside Warriors Grappling Club and hopefully getting a middle school program with increased interest.”

For the girls, De La Cruz competed at 117, and won by pin.

On Wednesday, Orestimba will host Hughson in a TVL dual meet that is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m., starting with the junior varsity boys, girls and varsity boys.

This will also be the final home dual meet for three seniors in Cynthia Hernandez, Mariah Moreno and Alma Negrete.

Mike Bush is a multimedia journalist who was born and raised in the Stanislaus and Merced County areas. Follow him on X/Twitter @MikeBMultimedia and Instagram @mikebushmedia.