Burbank High’s Richard Kalajyan has become the first wrestler in the history of the wrestling program to qualify for the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet.
The 138-pound Kalajyan played sixth out of 32 in his CIF Coastal Division Tournament last weekend to move to Friday’s event, which will be held at Palm Springs High.
“We are incredibly proud of Richard and his historic accomplishment of qualifying for Masters. In just his second year of wrestling he has earned his Captain status, broke the wins-in-season record (now 27 and counting), and qualified for Masters,” coach Jonathon O’Brien said.
Kalajyan won by fall over Kyle Hoffner of Westlake and Brock Riffner of San Dimas. In the quarterfinals he earned a 7-4 decision over Servite’s Jacob Owen.
He lost to St. John Bosco’s Sergio Gomez in the semifinal. He lost in the consolation semifinals to Patrick Flores of Westminster and lost to Owen by decision in the fifth-place match.
Kaljyan’s teammate Sevak Arakelyan finished sixth in the 132-pound division, but just the top five advanced to the Masters Meet in his weight class.
Arakelyan is just a freshman.
