Central Valley’s Angel Melgoza, Sal Almazan and Carlos Zepeda and Ceres High’s Parker Borges turned in individual standout performances while representing their respective boys wrestling teams at the James Riddle Memorial Classic on Dec. 14.

Melgoza, Almazan, Zepeda and Borges placed in the top eight at the Oakdale High School event.

Melgoza, Almazan and Borges claimed medals by virtue of their top-seven performances.

Zepeda fell one win shy of winning hardware.

“It’s one of the toughest, one-day tournaments in the state,” Hawks’ head coach Rob Beckhart said.

“We knew he (Parker) could do it (medal),” Bulldogs’ leader Adam Borges said. “But it’s a tough tournament. There are so many schools there. They come from everywhere.”

The 12th-place Hawks and 31st-place Bulldogs posted scores of 62 and 21, respectively, at the 41-team tournament.

“It’s one of the better showings I remember us ever having there,” Beckhart said.

“Overall, we competed very well,” coach Borges said. “The kids wrestled tough. There were a lot of close matches.”

Seeded fifth, Melgoza placed third in the 215-pound weight bracket.

He posted a 3-1 record.

Melgoza beat Palma’s Damien Lopez-Reglado (pin, 1:58), Windsor’s Max Solorio (pin, 1:59) and Bakersfield’s Jesse Addington (pin, 4:13).

“He (Melgoza) takes wrestling serious,” Beckhart said. “He wants to do well in the sport.”

Almazan placed seventh at 285 pounds.

He posted a 3-2 record.

Almazan beat Tracy’s Ruben Cornejo (major decision, 12-4), Turlock’s Freddy Luna (pin, 2:31) and Calaveras’ Noah Johnson (pin, 0:55).

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Beckhart said. “He’s worked hard to get to this point. He has pretty high goals. He wants to get to state like everybody else.”

Zepeda placed eighth at 190 pounds.

He posted a 2-3 record.

Zepeda beat Calaveras’ Nathan Kavanagh (pin, 3:44) and Merrill West’s Tara Sanghera (decision, 25-19).

“The things he does to, he does very well,” Beckhart said. “He’s pretty good in the neutral position. He has crazy hip and flexibility. He’s hard to pin down.”

Parker Borges placed fourth at 150 pounds.

He posted a 2-2 record.

Borges beat De La Salle’s Andrew Jimenez (pin, 1:18) and Durham’s Zachariah Zwinger (pin, 2:21).

“Parker puts in the work at practice,” Adam Borges said. “He’s willing to sacrifice to get what he wants.”

Central Valley’s Sunny Breshears (150 pounds, 2-2 record), Anthony Diaz (157s, 2-2), Jayden Mattox (126s, 1-2), Rotceh Mendez (132s, 1-2), Caleb Beckhart (138s, 1-2), Zack Esparza (175s, 1-2), Urijah Krigbaum (144s, 0-2) and Sean Vernon (165s, 0-2), and Ceres High’s Alijah Jackson (106s, 0-2), Michael King (113s, 0-2), Daniel Tubera (138s, 0-2), Jonas Hayes (157s, 0-2) and Abraham Rodriguez (175s, 0-2) all gained valuable experience while competing at the Riddle Classic.