Burbank’s wrestling program is in its third season, but the Bulldogs are already seeing progress.
They placed fourth out of 25 teams at the 43rd annual Newbury Park Invitational on Saturday afternoon and five wrestlers placed within the top six of their respective weight classes.
“We’re still a really young program but we’re fortunate that we have a couple of the kids that have backgrounds in judo and jiu-jitsu,” Burbank coach Jon O’Brien said. “But they still have a long way to go.”
Jayden Dela Rosa won the 138 championship match over Chaminade’s Nolan Himelfarb by medical forfeit. Dela Rosa, a junior, is the No. 19 wrestler in the 132-pound weight class in the California Wrestler rankings and used a fast, active style of wrestling to reach the championship match on Saturday.
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“To offset the large experience gap, we focus on conditioning and pace and speed to try to close the technical gap between us and other wrestlers,” O’Brien said. “So when the technical background is there, it’s a nice dangerous combo.”
Richard Kalajyan, the No. 41 wrestler at 144 pounds in the California Wrestler rankings, finished third in the 150 weight class at the Newbury Park tournament. Sevak Araklyen, Davit Arzumanyan and Albert Airapetian also had top-six finishes individually.
Newbury Park’s annual tournament is early in the season and serves as a measuring stick for wrestling teams as well as individuals. The one-day format doesn’t involve overnight travel and helped draw 256 wrestlers from schools across California.
“A lot of teams are drawn to it because it is early in the season, good competition, you can kind of see where you’re at,” tournament director Marcus Black said. “Just to get tuned up, see where you are, see where you need to bridge a couple gaps, fill a couple holes.”
The tournament features upgrades every year. Saturday’s Christmas-themed event included big-screen televisions that displayed upcoming matches and table covers at each of the mats that indicated each mat’s number designation.
Upcoming goals that could happen as soon as next season include a girls tournament with 16-person brackets that would be completed the day before the boys tournament.
Burbank is also trying to grow its girls team. The Bulldogs currently have 25 boys in the program but only nine girls.
“Our big focus is growing the girls team in general,” O’Brien said. “We’re putting a lot of resources and time into girls recruiting girls, getting the siblings and kind of building the culture of the girls team.”
He’s working to get a boys wrestler to qualify for the CIF State tournament. Based on the results of the Newbury Park tournament, that could happen sooner rather than later.
Newbury Park Invitational team results:
2. Chaminade, 156.0
4. Burbank, 114.0
6. Calabasas, 109.5
8. Moorpark, 100.0
9. El Camino Real, 99.0
10. Alemany, 94.0
Newbury Park Invitational individual results:
106 pounds
First: Christopher Roos, Calabasas
Second: Maverick Harell, Chaminade
Fifth: Jordan Gonzalez, Crespi
Sixth: Tommy Blackmon, Newbury Park
113 pounds
Second: Christian Zacarias, El Camino Real
Third: Anthony Perez, Alemany
120 pounds
First: Yousef Jubrail, Chaminade
Second: Samuel Lee, Crespi
Fourth: Etai Cohen, El Camino Real
Sixth: Jason Frey, Thousand Oaks
126 pounds
Fourth: Justin Yoon, Chaminade
Sixth: Zeth Abalos, Chaminade
132 pounds
First: Sean Gross, Chaminade
Fifth: Marc-Daniel Jumanan, Canoga Park
Sixth: Ralph Loya, Eagle Rock
138 pounds
First: Jayden Dela Rosa, Burbank
Second: Nolan Himelfarb, Chaminade
Fourth: Lincoln McClenahan, Granada Hills
144 pounds
Second: Michael Kase, Chaminade
Third: Georgii Guledani, Agoura
Fourth: Sevak Araklyen, Burbank
Sixth: Arman Gukasov, Granada Hills
150 pounds
Third: Richard Kalajyan, Burbank
Fifth: Desmond Fiore-Born, El Camino Real
Sixth: Israel Avita, Eagle Rock
157 pounds
Second: Trevor Arruda-Gonzalez, Moorpark
Fifth: Caden Zendejas, Alemany
Sixth: Aron Moeller, El Camino Real
165 pounds
First: Chuk Ohiaeri, El Camino Real
Third: Brody Coleman, Calabasas
Fourth: Massimilliano Senel, Thousand Oaks
Fifth: Mauricio Campos, Granada Hills
175 pounds
Third: Zachary Evans, Crespi
Sixth: Arel Francke, Calabasas
190 pounds
First: Brett Williamson, Moorpark
Second: Kano Gordon, Calabasas
Third: Davit Arzumanyan, Burbank
Fourth: Gabryel Goodwin, Calabasas
Fifth: Albert Airapetian, Burbank
215 pounds
First: John O’Brien, Alemany
Third: Noah Huss, Moorpark
285 pounds
Second: Aaron Castellanos, Eagle Rock
Third: Jose Lopez, Alemany
Fifth: Gavin Price, Newbury Park
Sixth: Ricardo Gonzalez, Moorpark
