By: Erik Rico, Chance Jasso, Mariah Gomez, Ryan Harris
On February 1st, Redwood Boys Wrestling took home the East Yosemite League (EYL) Championship with a score of 262 points, beating Mt. Whitney’s second place score of 214.
Redwood had 6 wrestlers finish in first place, which include Isaak Mendoza ’24, Pedro Mendez ’23, Adrian De Leon ’25 , Enrique Segura ’26, Kai Preisendorf ’24, and Jordan Nguyen ’24.
After the win at the EYL Championships, Redwood looks to advance further by finishing top 8 in the CIF Division ll Central Section Championships on February 10th.
Preisendorf, who wrestles in the 222 pound weight class, says, “I think we are ready, we have one more week to practice and polish up but we are all ready to go [to the CIF Central Section Championships].”
Photo Credit: Kai Preisendorf
Preisendorf also earned Most Outstanding Wrestler at the EYL Championship. When asked about the award, Preisendorf says, “It feels great, feels great knowing that I’m not just a leader in the wrestling room, but just one of the better ones too, and I just lead by example and it could hopefully have some young guys looking up to me and follow along.”
Isaak Mendoza ’24, another wrestler who won at the EYL Championships, says, “It feels pretty good that I put in all this hard work and it’s actually paying off.” He has been wrestling for 10 years and says he finds his inspiration from, “My family and my team.”
Mendoza wrestles in the 126 weight class and has a very interesting good luck charm. He has a monkey that he brings around he says, “Last year in April we went to Reno for a tournament, and I bought him for 35 bucks. I found out he was actually a heating monkey, so he came with some benefits, and then I named him Gerald and he’s been with me and been my son ever since then.”
Photo Credit: Mendoza
Enrique Segura ’26, who has also been wrestling for 10 years, says he finds inspiration from, “Coach Wright, who has helped me a lot and also Daton Fix (wrestler for Oklahoma State).” Additionally, Enrique has an older sister Audrey Segura ’25, who also won at the EYL Championships. Enrique also goes on to add that, “I feel ready, it’s a chance for us to go get our rings, so we have to go out and wrestle just like we did for EYL and we’ll have it in the bag.”
Segura also feeds off the energy of his teammates and opponents, saying, “It was cool seeing everybody go crazy, and then seeing the faces on the other schools knowing that they lost and Redwood is on top.” Segura looks forward to competing at the 197 weight class again in the CIF Central Section Championships.
The biggest competitor for the Rangers is Jordan Nguyen ’24, who competes in the 285 weight class. Nguyen finds inspiration from 2 high class wrestlers, saying, “Gable Steveson, heavyweight for Minnesota, and also Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State Wrestler who is also in 285 weight class).”
This season Nguyen has been sticking out in tournaments placing in just about every one. When asked about if he was ready for the CIF Championship, Nguyen simply answered, “Yes!”
Pedro Mendez ’23, the only senior wrestling for the Rangers this year, wrestles in the 134 weight class. He has been wrestling since 7th grade and says that, “We’re all ready, we have all trained really hard and we’re ready to go win a valley championship.”
Mendez also loves the chemistry of the team, saying that, “I love being able to hang out with the team and always go to team dinners after the tournaments.”
Adrian De Leon ’25, a wrestler who competes in the 152 weight class, has also been wrestling since 7th grade. De Leon is ready for the CIF State Championships, saying, “If I wrestle the way I did at EYL, I feel like I could make it all the way to State.” He also finds inspiration from his supporters, saying, “The only inspiration I have is seeing how many people are there to support me, and even if I do lose they are there to support me.”
The team not only has great wrestlers but also very entertaining personalities. Redwoods wrestlers frequently post Tiktoks, along with Coach Wright posting highlight videos on their page (Redwood Wrestling tiktok). De Leon ends it off by proving this group is very tight knit, saying, “Everybody here treats it like we’re family, and that nobody is left out in anything.”
Erik Rico
Erik Rico '25, is a first year journalist for the Redwood Gigantea. He plans to live in the sports section hoping to cover all aspects of Redwood Athletics. His hobbies include baseball, football, and traveling. He looks forward to attending as many Ranger Athletic events as possible.
Great article!