Morris Not Just Champ -- He's Best at MCAL Meet

might not have been the most powerful wrestler at the Marin County Athletic League Championships on Saturday, but according to the rival coaches, he was the most polished.

That's why the junior was named "Most Outstanding Wrestler" at the championships after he took the 162-pound title at Drake High.

"He worked very hard in the off-season," noted his father, , who is one of Redwood's co-coaches. "I think they (the other coaches) responded to his technical ability. He was technically superior today to the guys he was wrestling."

Morris rolled through his competition, including Justin-Siena's Matt Halley in the finals. Morris won that match by technical fall, 15-0.

The Giants demonstrated they'll be a force to be reckoned with in years to come by sending three sophomores to the finals along with the junior Morris.

"We have a young team," Alan Morris observed. "Wrestling is a very technical sport. It takes a lot of training to do well. To get three sophomores in the finals means we’re working hard."

One of the three, 121-pounder , had to beat a Terra Linda wrestler, Jonathan Figueroa, who had beaten him earlier in the season just to get to the finals. He did, then settled for second place, narrowly falling to Marin Catholic's Nate Boutwell 7-5 in the finals.

As did fellow sophomores at 127 pounds and , a first-year wrestler, at 142. Both were pinned in the finals, Amos by Marin Catholic's Andrew Cresalia in 3:39 and Simmonds by Terra Linda's Erick Figueroa in 1:21.

In all, six Giants earned trips to next week's North Coast Section Championships. Dylan Morris' brother , just a freshman, took third place at 147, as did senior at 132.

Nathan Morris earned his NCS invitation by thumping Novato's Matt Nazar in a technical fall, 16-0, in the third-place match. Chen wasted little time pinning Novato's Jackson Smith in 38 seconds.

Redwood's (114) took fourth place, while (105) and Bryce Snyder (154) finished fifth.

Terra Linda edged Marin Catholic for the team title.