CHICO — The Butte County wrestling community honored former Chico and Pleasant Valley High School wrestling coach and referee Joe Rios for an 11th straight year with the Joe Rios Memorial Wrestling Tournament, co-hosted by Chico High and Durham High School.
Rios died suddenly on Nov. 15, 2012 at the age of 46 — and for Friday’s opening day of the event with his name, 552 wrestlers from 56 teams began competition on eight mats in three different rooms at Chico High School. That number is an increase from last year’s tournament, which featured 534 wrestlers from 54 teams.
“It had to do with Joe and his family and how heartbroken we were to lose a friend,” said Durham head coach Tony Cardoza when asked about why he and Chico coaches Keith Rollins and Jordan Mathews founded the tournament. “We started talking almost immediately after he passed.
“As his friends and his family, we really wanted to do something to pay respect and keep his name around. He was a ref for many people, his kids wrestled at both high schools in Chico, and we just wanted to make sure we kept his name alive and paid respect to him at least once a year. That’s what that’s about. It had everything to do about paying respect to a friend.”
Chico, Durham, Gridley, Las Plumas, Live Oak, Orland, Oroville, Paradise, Pleasant Valley, Red Bluff and Williams were teams representing the Northern Section; other teams ranged from Sacramento to the Bay Area and Reno.
Del Oro coach Clint Madden has been the coach of the Golden Eagles since 1997 and knew Rios himself, and has brought his team to the tournament all 11 years it has taken place. He said some of the reasons he returns each year with his team is the professionalism, the setup in three different gyms which avoids wrestlers not waiting for matches, the timeliness of start and end times, but also the competition is strong.
“We see a lot of kids we don’t see when we’re down in the Sacramento area, so it’s nice for us to get up north and wrestle kids up here,” Madden said. “You’ve got Oakdale and Chico that are powerhouses, you’ve got most of the Northern Section teams, and it’s just a good tournament.
“There’s good competition, and Chico’s wrestling program is very welcoming. They do a good job of taking care of the teams and coaches, they give information out to everyone, and they just do it right.”
‘Quality mat time’
In addition to Del Oro, schools that have participated in all 11 Rios Memorials include Davis, Damonte Ranch, Spanish Springs (Nevada), Pleasant Valley, Gridley, Paradise, East Nicolaus, Los Lomas and Folsom. The tournament showcases some of the best wrestlers from the Northern California and Nevada, including the Chico High Panthers, who have won 15 straight Eastern Athletic League titles.
Spanish Springs coach Joe Imelli said that prior to the Rios Memorial, he and his team attended the Anderson Tournament on the same weekend. After a long night in Anderson, Rollins approached Imelli and said Chico was looking to start a tournament on the same weekend. The coaches had a great relationship, and Chico wanted the Reno-based team to come to Chico the following year. They made the move and have been back each year.
“This is a great tournament. We get a lot of quality mat time, the tournament runs smooth, and the tournament starts and ends when they say it will,” Imelli said. “This staff has been so accommodating to us. They give us the opportunity to hang out in the wrestling room and just kind of made us feel like family, and just make us feel welcome up here.
“You can’t mistake people like that. We’ve left tournaments before because the tournament director was a jerk. They might have had good wrestling, but quality people around makes your experience. The families are here that run the snack bar, it’s been for 11 years it’s been a pleasant experience and we’ve never had anything negative, so we keep coming up here.”
Chico senior wrestler Gabe Rodriguez, the No. 2 seed at 288 pounds, compared the environment wrestling at the Rios Memorial to his senior night on the football team.
“There’s not many big tournaments like this in California, so for it to be sort of right in the center of Butte County, it’s super special for everyone to come together,” Rodriguez said. “There’s definitely a lot of pride in this tournament. It’s a big tournament right in our backyard, so everyone can come together and perform. With all these people in the stands here to watch it’s just special.”
There were two first-time teams in attendance Friday — Las Plumas and Oakdale. Oakdale coach Steve Strange said he’d heart good things about the tournament and saw the quality teams wrestling, but he usually opts for a more local tournament for the team just north of Modesto.
“We just felt this was a good choice for our team this year. A lot of the teams that come here we know, so decided to come here,” Strange said.
Results
Quarterfinals, semifinals and finals are today. The results from those matches will be posted online at flowrestling.org and in Monday’s Chico Enterprise-Record.
Wrestlers advancing from area teams into the quarterfinals Saturday, beginning at 116 pounds, include Orland’s Brodie Henderson; Chico’s Tej Sidhu (123); Durham’s Landon Salindong (123); Chico’s Jeovany Navarrete (135); Chico’s Jacob Foster (141); Durham’s Colson Thurman (141); Durham’s Zachariah Zwinger (147); Durham’s Ivan Rico (153); Durham’s Richard Halvorson (160); Durham’s Edgar Flores (168); Chico’s Jack Dalling (178); Durham’s Carter Schmid (178); Chico’s Ryker James (193); Pleasant Valley’s Carter Malinger (218); Durham’s Jose Alvarado (288); and Chico’s Gabe Rodriguez (288).
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