A week after his brother cemented a piece of Cedar Ridge wrestling history, Juan Jaramillo claimed some of his own.
Jaramillo, a sophomore, claimed his first Red Wolf Classic championship against a stacked 15-man field at the annual pre-Thanksgiving event at Cedar Ridge High School. Facing large competition that included three-time defending 1A State Champion Uwharrie Charter School, defending 2A Eastern Regional champion Seaforth, reigning 4A State Champion Cardinal Gibbons and 2025 Central Conference champion Person, Jaramillo got through the field for his second individual tournament championship.
Jaramillo defeated 9th-seeded Ahmadullah Ahmadi of Athens Drive 19-12 in the championship match. Jaramillo scored two takedowns in the opening period and led 14-4 late in the second period following four near-fall points. Jaramillo fended off a late rally where Ahamdi scored two takedowns in the final frame to improve to 8-0 on the season.
Last December as a freshman, Jaramillo pinned all three of his opponents to win the Eagle Invitational in Mebane.
Juan’s victory came one week after his brother Favio won his 100th career match against Eastern Alamance’s Jayden Batten in Cedar Ridge’s opening tri-meet of the season on November 13.
In the men’s tournament, Cedar Ridge finished fifth in the team standings with 138 points, one point ahead of Seaforth. Northwest Guilford, powered by four individual champions and three third-place finishers, won the team championship with 282 points, edging Uwharrie Charter by two points. Cardinal Gibbons finished fourth.
Orange finished 12th with 70 points. Panther sophomore Jordan Barbee finished in third place at 190 pounds. Seeded 5th, Barbee defeated Rylan Alvarez, the #2 seed, of Uwharrie Charter 7-0 in the 3rd place match. Barbee opened the tournament with three straight pins against Timofei Bryvkim of Panther Creek, Hayden Bell of Hillside and Brayden Robinson of Kernersville Glenn. Harrison Compton of Seaforth captured the 190-pound championship.
After winning the Atkins Invitational Championship in Winston-Salem on November 15, Cedar Ridge junior Alejandro Briones finished third at 150 pounds. Briones reached the semifinals after pinning Ben Nabedrik of East Chapel Hill in 1:48 and earning a major decision over Person’s Julian Combs 12-0. In the third place match, Briones defeated Combs again 13-3.
Briones has started the season 13-1.
Favio Jaramillo finished fifth at 120 pounds. Favio, seeded fifth, reached the semifinals after opening with tech fall victories over Mason Dean of Jordan and Wyatt Breashears of Western Alamance. In the quarterfinals, Favio rallied from an early 7-2 deficit against Alex Raymundo of Randleman, scoring nine points in the final 1:12 to win 22-17. Jordan Miller of Seaforth, the top-seed and eventual champion, defeated Favio 9-1 in the semifinals. Favio pinned Christopher Geiger of Athens Drive in the 5th place match in 1:39.
In the women’s tournament, Cedar Ridge finished 4th out of 30 teams. Sophomore Thalia Paterno earned her second runner-up finish of the year at 107 pounds. Paterno, who won the 2024 Jim King/Orange Invitational last year, scored pins over Arianna Bottoms of Atkins (:45), Elena Tavares of Catawba Ridge (:45), and Alena McNaughton of Panther Creek (3:29). In the championship match, 6th-seeded Brianna Palmer of Cardinal Gibbons upset Paterno via pinfall in 45 seconds.
Cedar Ridge sophomore Caroline DonJuan had a career-best third place finish at 235 pounds. In the semifinals, DonJuan lost to eventual champion Grace Redding of Asheboro. DonJuan rebounded to pin Yarislaidy Santiago Ramirez of Asheboro in 27 seconds. In the 3rd place match, DonJuan pinned Rose Grady of Orange in 2:50.
Red Wolf freshman Ella-Grace Reed, in her first Red Wolf Invitational, finished fourth at 138 pounds. Reed scored two pins in the consolation round against Lailah Shabazz of South Granville and Bailey Killingsworth of Seaforth.
Eva Dockery, a Cedar Ridge sophomore, finished fourth at 185 pounds. Dockery pinned Margaret Adebosoye of South Garner in the opening round.
Panther Creek won the women’s team championship with 134.5 points. Southeast Alamance finished second at 78 points.
