ONTARIO — Six area wrestlers qualified for the CIF state tournament in Saturday’s Masters Meet and did it in different ways. But how they did it was immaterial.

Simi Valley’s Jacob Cano and Deric Ginther of Royal (both from the Marmonte League), Alemany’s Dandrell Johnson and Khalil Swinson (Mission League); Hoover’s Arthur Ghukasyan (Rio Hondo) and Quartz Hill’s Randon Miranda (Golden) qualified for the state meet at Citizens Bank Arena in Ontario during the two-day tournament. Some did it Friday and some had to come back from early losses and to qualify Saturday.

Cano (at 120 pounds) lost his first match and fought back to finish eighth. He became the fourth Pioneers wrestler to reach state in the last four years.

“It’s a bit surreal,” said Cano, a junior. “I came here unseeded and I wasn’t projected to do much. Then I made it to the second day as top 12. I’ve heard plenty of stories about kids losing their first match and it’s heartbreaking.

“I came back the second day and I said ‘I gotta win this one’ every time, and it’s exactly what I did.”

Cano lost his first match by fall to Christian Claudio of Calvary Chapel but then won three consecutive matches to put himself into medal contention Saturday.

“I lost my first match and it was tough, but I knew I had to wrestle back,” Cano said. “If I wouldn’t have lost, maybe I wouldn’t have been in such a pinch.”

Johnson (at 220) had similar experiences with Miranda at 106, Ghukasyan at 160 and Ginther at 182. All four won their first three matches and qualified for state on Friday, only to run into trouble on the second day.

Johnson finished sixth, Miranda and Ghukasyan placed fourth and Ginther was fifth.

“Day two is always the hardest day,” said Johnson, who became the second sophomore at Alemany to qualify for state — after his coach, James Castaneda. “(The other wrestlers) have a target on you. They want to win it just as badly as you want it. But you can’t do anything except aim higher and go even harder.”

Miranda, also a junior, became the first Quartz Hill wrestler to qualify for state since Russell Carlin in 2007.

“It feels good and I’m happy,” Miranda said. “Last year I didn’t come here. I didn’t qualify. I didn’t even place at my CIF, but to win CIF and place top four in Masters, I’m happy.”

Ghukasyan reached the semifinals with three decisions on Friday, but then lost to the state’s top-ranked wrestler at 160 pounds — Bryan Salinas of Northview — before defeating Mark Aceval of San Jacinto and losing to Aaron Negrette of Calvary Chapel 8-3.

Ginther lost his semifinals match to top-seeded Corey Griego of Sultana and dropped to the consolation round Saturday. Then he lost to Tristan Sutton of Hemet but scored a pin in the fifth-place match.

The most dramatic path taken to state was by Khalil Swinson of Alemany. He went to the consolation round at 170 pounds on Friday and found himself in the uncomfortable position on the second day of having to compete in the ninth-place match and a spot in state.

The junior and Mission League champion was behind 4-3 late in the match when he scored a takedown and took a 5-4 lead with 16 seconds left. He held on for the win.

“It’s obviously a lot of pressure because you know that it’s win or go home,” Swinson said. “I’ve been working really hard lately and I felt like I couldn’t let myself down as well as my family. So I knew that if I just went in there and gave it my all, I knew I was going to come out on top.”

The two-day state meet will be held Friday and Saturday at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield.