NEWMAN – Three Orestimba High girls wrestlers produced strong finishes at the Sac-Joaquin Section South Regional Championships at Central Valley High of Ceres on Saturday.

Samantha De La Cruz, a junior who competed in the 112-pound class, punched her ticket to compete at the section’s Girls Masters Championships that will take place at Adventist Health Arena in Stockton this upcoming weekend with a 4-2 record for fifth place at the regional tournament.

Warrior teammate Alma Negrete (172) joins De La Cruz to the Masters. Negrete took seventh place. Cynthia Hernandez (140) took ninth place and will be an alternate.

The top five wrestlers in each weight class at the Masters advance to the California Interscholastic Federation Championships, which will be held in Bakersfield toward the end of next week.

Boys

Four Orestimba boys competed at the section’s Division V championships, which were held at Hughson High. The two-day tournament concluded on Saturday.

Isaac Barnes (108), Brandon Vega (122), Michael Santos (140) and Daniel Santana (192) competed for the Warriors. Barnes, along with Santos and Santana, advanced to the second day of the tournament.

Santos needed only one more win from earning a medal.

“He had a really good season,” said Orestimba head coach Sergio Mar.

Santana, who was in his first full season of wrestling on the varsity level, had two matches that were in his grasp, Mar noted. But those matches netted into losses.

“For the boys, the road stops here,” said Mar, “and on to the offseason to get ready for the 2026-27 season.”

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.