Castro takes the reigns for Morning Star Invitational

Jose Castro admits he feels the pressure.

The longtime Los Banos wrestling assistant has been there since the inception of the Morning Star Invitational. Castro’s helped former head coaches Josh Adams and Matt Vasconcellos put on all five of the previous tournaments. The first-year Tigers head coach said everything feels different now that he’s the one holding the tournament’s rei,ns.

“I’ve been around since we first started it, so the tournament doing well means something to me,” Castro said. “It’s very different this year. I can’t just show up and help and enjoy some wrestling. It’s on my shoulders and reflects on my program if things don’t go well.

“We’ve had great competition the last five years and I want it to continue to build steam and be the tournament everyone wants to be a part of.”

The one thing that its certain heading into the sixth annual Morning Star Invitational is there will be a first-time champion. Golden Valley and Oakdale have dominated the event, splitting the first five championships. Neither is represented in the 21 teams that will square off on Saturday at Los Banos High.

The tournament will hold plenty of local interest with LB, Merced, Atwater, El Capitan, Buhach Colony, Livingston and Chowchilla all participating. There’s no shortage of outside-the-area talent either with Sac-Joaquin Section powers Turlock and Central Valley and Central Section stalwarts Clovis and Central in the mix. Adams will also make his first return to the tournament he started as the coach of Clovis North.

“It’s definitely a good field,” Castro said. “One of the things we’ve always prided ourselves on is the level of competition and I don’t think this year will be any different. I would have to think based off of last weekend’s results that Turlock and Buhach Colony would probably be the favorites coming in. Clovis finished third last year, so I wouldn’t count them out, either.”

Castro’s squad will try to improve upon its 11th-place showing from a year ago. He returns six members from the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV title team. The Tigers have had mixed results out of the gate, getting handled by Golden Valley in a dual and then turning in a convincing win over Firebaugh.

“The expectations are always for the team to win,” Castro said. “Realistically, we have five or six guys that should be up in the medal rounds. There’s no reason five or six of those guys can’t reach the finals, but they have to come ready to wrestle.”

The action gets underway at 9 a.m. There will be seven mats spread out over the LB’s two gyms and Castro hopes for the finals to get going around 4:30 p.m.

This story was originally published December 17, 2015 at 8:43 PM with the headline "Castro takes the reigns for Morning Star Invitational."