Thanks to a school record 10 medalists, Selma High School finished in fifth place in the 2008 Doc Buchanan Tournament at Clovis High School on Saturday.

The California Wrestling newsletter has the Bears ranked fifth in the state and the Buchanan Tournament is like the state action.

Selma High School had six wrestlers reach Saturday's Buchanan semifinals but all six lost. But the Bears did come back strong in the consolation bracket.

The Bears were in fourth place until Bakersfield High School's Travis Rasmussen won his championship match at 145 pounds to move ahead of Selma.

This wasn't the state tournament, but it's about as close as you can get before California's best descend on Bakersfield's Rabobank Arena on Feb. 29-March 1. Seven of the state's top 10 teams (according to The California Wrestler Newsletter) participated, and 14 of the top 25.

Selma's only action of this week came on Tuesday night, after press time, as they traveled to Coalinga.

Kingsburg High travels to Firebaugh for the Westside Invitational on Saturday.

Clovis High captured the Buchanan Tournament title with 251 points, 51.5 ahead of second place Buchanan. Temecula Valley was third with 198.5, followed by Bakersfield with 194 and Selma with 193.

Many of the placings followed the seeds. For example, Selma's Jose Mendoza was seeded third at 130 pounds and finished in third. The senior's only loss was a 3-2 decision in the semifinals to eventual second place finisher Stephen Weimer of Clovis.

Selma High freshman Justin Lozano was seeded sixth at 140 pounds and ended up in sixth place after suffering an 11-0 loss to Jonah Cruz of Bakersfield in the fifth place match.

In the semifinals at 112 pounds, Selma High School's AJ Valles, seeded second, was pinned by third seeded Markjay Acosta of San Leandro. Valles bounced back with a 4-3 win over fifth seeded Dylan Barrales of Temecula Valley in the third place match.

At 119 pounds, Selma's Diego Quintana finished third. Quintana reached the semifinals and lost a 5-0 decisiion to Martin Gonzalez of Gilroy. In the third place match, Quintana pinned Anthony Waters of Buchanan 50 seconds into the second period.

Selma High senior Archie Tovar, seeded fourth at 145 pounds, ended up in fifth place. Tovar lost a 4-1 decision to eventual champion Travis Rasmussen of Bakersfield before pinning Robert Rios of Liberty-Bakersfield in the fifth place match.

Selma's Able Ruiz was seeded second at 189 pounds and reached the semifinals before a 6-4 loss to third-seeded Phillip Brandt of Fresno's Bullard High. Ruiz recovered for a third place finish, edging Jake Gingold of Buchanan 3-1.

Another Selma High senior, Mike Perez, was unseeded at 215 pounds but came through with a sixth place finish. Perez was pinned by eventual champion Rudi Burtschi of Oakdale in the quarterfinals.

Taking seventh place at 285 pounds was Selma High senior Jacob Celedon. He also matched his seeding. Celedon lost in the quarterfinals to second seeded

For the third time this season, Selma High freshman Nick Pena lost to Lemoore High senior Brandon Rocha. This time, it was a 2-1 decision in the semifinals. Pena, who was seeded sixth, finished fourth after a 7-5 loss to Michael Rodriguez of Independence High School.

Selma High sophomore Nick Escalera, seeded sixth at 135 pounds, finished in eighth place.

Despite the problems in the semifinals, Coach Naser Husein tried to remain upbeat. "We are still wrestling," said the coach during a break in Saturday afternoon action. "We are trying to get the best places that we can. This will get us ready for the state tournament. We still have a long season ahead of us with a ton of matches. Anything can happen."

The coach says that wrestlers who place at the Buchanan Tournament, usually place at the state finals.

Kingsburg's top finisher was Bryan Eskew, who placed fifth at 171 pounds. Eskew, who was seeded seventh, reached the quarterfinals but was pinned by Brad Pace of Ponderosa. Pace eventually suffered a knee injury and defaulted the fifth place match to Eskew.

Even though only one wrestler won a medal, Kingsburg High coach Clemente Moreno was proud of his team.

Before the Doc Buchanan Tournament, the Bears cruised to a 60-23 Central Sequoia League victory over the Dinuba Emperors on Jan. 2 at Selma's Deis Gymnnasium.

All of the contested matches were decided by pins. Dinuba lost a team point for unsportsmanlike conduct after a wrestler took his singlet off before getting off the mat after winning by forfeit.

The longest match of the night came at 171 pounds when Dinuba's Robert Hernandez pinned Selma's Chris Moreno with 32 seconds left in the match.