Benicia High senior Christian Ramos took firth place in the 106-pound division of the CIF Boys State Wrestling Championships in Bakersfield over the weekend, becoming the first male wrestler in Benicia history to place at the State level.

Ramos, making his third straight State appearance, opened the tournament Friday with a 7-0 victory over Sidney Flores of Bishop Amat. He followed that up by pinning Aaron Perez of James Logan in the first period, then got pinned by Randon Miranda of Quartz Hill with three seconds left in third period to drop into the consolation bracket.

Ramos (50-5) went on to beat Dexter Viengvilay of Laguna Hills, 4-1, and Chase Zollman of Poway, 5-3. That set up a Saturday match against rival Jordan Aquino of Vacaville, who won 3-2 and eventually finished third. Ramos beat Isaiah Perez of Dinuba, 2-1, for fifth place.

The Panthers had four other wrestlers fail to place at State. Mason Boutain (138 pounds) went 4-2 overall, with one of his losses coming to Wyatt Wyckoff of Paradise – the eventual 138-pound champion. Fernando Lanza lost his first match on Friday but came back to win two consolation-bracket matches before getting eliminated. Senior Joseph Hurst (160) and Lysander Mahilum (113) also went 2-2 overall.

Benicia took 18th place as a team and finished fourth among teams from the Sac-Joaquin Section. Only Oakdale, Folsom and Vacaville placed higher.

Triston Foley represented St. Patrick-St. Vincent High in the State Tournament and went 0-2.

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