Millikan High seniors Nick Pena and Jake Wallace both won individual tournament championships at the Brea Wrestling Tournament in North Orange County to lead the Rams to a strong third place team finish.

Downey was the two-day team tournament champion with eight placers and 221.0 points, while Santa Ana was second (199.0) and Millikan earned 191.5 team points to finish third.  The Rams had six placers and are preparing for a  Jan. 7th Moore League showdown with four-time league champion Lakewood.

Pena went 5-0 over the two days with five pins at 152lbs, including a pin of second-seeded Sam Lee of Torrance at 3:15.  The Rams captain is 17-0 with 14 pins and is arguably the area’s most dominant wrestler.

“We’re really working hard as a team and I like what I see,” said Pena.  “It’s my job to make sure everybody is ready to go mentally and physically and I have to make sure I lead by example and not just vocally.”

Wallace at 135lbs is the best wrestler that nobody knows about and is 16-0 with 14 pins.  The senior won an 11-3 decision over Brett Thomson of Whittier Christian.

“It really helps motivate me to be on a team with so many talented guys who work so hard,” Wallace said.  “I don’t want to be a guy that let’s my teammates down when we have such high goals as a unit.”

James Kuwata at 103lbs had an impressive third place showing after going 5-1 over the two day grind.  Kuwata’s lone loss was a 6-4 decision to Sunny Hills Kevin Mondragon in the semifinals.

The other placers for Millikan included a fifth place finish from Jaime Reyes at 145lbs, a sixth place finish for Nick Arroyo at 160lbs and an eighth place finish for heavyweight Calvin Gonzalez.

Jake Wallace,  Photo From Jose Pena