What happened to Garden City's 120 pounder? Just saw that on track wrestling. He was a pretty good wrestler.

The ref said that he bit his opponent

I would like to start off with I am Johnny Pineda and the 120 lb wrestler is my son Silas. He had a great run at wrestling being that he started when he was 4 and never has he had an issue like this.
I do not blame the ref nor the other family involved. The ref was put in an impossible situation and the outcome was not in our favor. Many of you know my son and know his character he was taught at a young age by our amazing organization in Garden City. Win or lose do it with dignity, and some will hurt more then others and if you want to cry go in the hall never on the mat. The way i see it his opponent hit him with a good cross face that punctured both of my sons lips with his teeth. The ref stopped the match for blood time and apparently my son left teeth marks on the person. That was all that happened they made a decision and we lose. My son says without a shadow of doubt that nothing that happened was intentional and I stand behind him 110%. The part that hurts the most is that my sons heart has been broken and that too will heal and he will be stronger because of this! I am sorry to the Manhattan Wrestling team and the Taylor family and want you to know we have no ill feelings towards you and hope you feel the same way. My phone number if anyone has any other questions 620 290-1267

Mr. Pineda I must say that I have so much respect for you and your attitude towards this horrible situation. It was a battle and as a spectator it was easy to see that there was nothing intentional on Silas’ part. My heart breaks for him. I would like to think I would take the high road, as you have, if it were my son but I can’t say with any confidence that I could.

I have always had respect for the GC club and that has increased even more. Please let Silas know there are a lot of people in his corner and wish him and your family the best.

Nathan Carter

Thank you Mr Carter for your kind words, as you can imagine my son really needs those now.
Tell Gavin congratulations and we wish him the best.

My heart hurts for two wrestlers this year that have had this situation arise in the Regional finals.
Both wrestlers who were ejected where good sports with no history of unsportsmanlike behavior.
Johnny is 100% correct about the official being in an impossible position. The rule book gives no other coarse of action but to deem a bite as flagrant. Officials are charged with using discretion in many other unneccessary roughness vs. unsportsmanlike actions but are left with only one option for incidents involving teeth. My hope is a discussion can evolve about using referees discretion in matters involving teeth impressions and possible rule changes to support that.
Weestling is a microcosm of life and our wrestling family is hurt by these outcomes.
Champions were revealed in how they handled the circumstances that took place. I see you!

Kyle
I agree hopefully this is enough to open eyes and possibly make a rule change. If not at least make there be an appeal process cause we are all human and mistakes are made on all parts. Be it the wrestlers, coaches or the refs, and at this point there is no appeal process for what was called a flagrant. My son was naive to what had just happened and nothing was explained to him. After the blood time he went back and got into referees position only to be stood up and see the other guys hand raised. Then when it came to podium time he started up there thinking he had defaulted to second place. Thank God our coach caught him before he did get up there because his name was never called and the embarrassment would have been unbearable.

My son will bounce back from this and he will have learned a valuable lesson! Life can be unfair but we cannot let that keep us down.

My heart is heavy and I will be a trumpet for change. I have major respect for you and your family, club, and community. Character is revealed when are put in very difficult positions, and the Pineda name is solid. Any change that comes will never get back what was lost but it will ensure we can get it right and base judgements on the severity of the action. I owe you all a big hug, squeeze Silas for me...much love and respect!