A pair of Eagles soar to state championship wrestling tournament

Granite Hills High School will be represented by two wres­tlers at this weekend’s Califor­nia state championship tourna­ment at Bakersfield’s Mechan­ics Arena.

Kailey Smith made history as the school’s first female state qualifier after winning her 103-pound weight class at the in­augural San Diego Section girls Masters tournament Feb. 21 at Steele Canyon High School.

Joel Corella was among the latest group of state quali­fiers after recording a mete­oric second-place finish in his 140-pound weight class at last weekend’s San Diego Masters boys tournament at Southwest El Centro High School.

Corella was among three East County qualifiers in the boys field. Overall, eight wrestlers — three boys and five girls — will represent the region at this weekend’s state meet.

Competition starts Thurs­day, Feb. 27, and concludes with finals and awards on Saturday, Feb. 29. Live scoring will be offered through the www.cif-state.org website.

“It was such an awesome sea­son,” Granite Hills head coach Jesse Sheard said. “It was a proud coaching moment watch­ing these kids put it all togeth­er. Our kids bought in all season and left a lasting impression for fellow Eagles coming to wrestle at Granite.”

The top four place-finishers in each of 14 weight classes at last weekend’s Masters boys tournament punched their tick­ets to the state meet.

Corella, the second-place fin­isher in his weight class at the preceding Division II finals, won his opening three matches to advance to the semifinals.

Corella opened the tourna­ment with a bang by pinning Rancho Bernardo’s Richard Sunni in 3:44. The Granite Hills wrestler then captured a tight 3-2 decision over La Costa Can­yon’s Dylan Drach in the quar­terfinals to earn a berth in the semifinal round.

Corella topped Olympian’s Mico Gonzalez by an 8-6 deci­sion to advance to the champi­onship round against Poway’s Zane Stoddard.

Stoddard stopped Corella’s win streak with a 14-0 major de­cision.

“Joel amazed me,” Sheard said. “He was focused the whole weekend and had his mind set on making the finals. He upset a few kids along the way and wasn’t letting anyone or any­thing get in his way.

“Being the sixth seed, he knew he had some work to do, but as he says every tournament ‘seeds don’t mean anything.’ He didn’t let it bother him.

“I love watching him wrestle and the emotion he brings to the match. He’s a great leader to have on our team and sets the standard high for wrestlers at Granite. Last year after placing eighth at CIF and not qualify­ing for Masters to this year plac­ing second at CIF and second at Masters, he’s made a huge im­provement.”

Granite Hills, the 2019-20 Grossmont Hills League cham­pion, led the 10 East County teams competing at Masters with a ninth-place team fin­ish among the 68 participating teams.

“Overall, we wrestled well,” Sheard said. “Our boys went out and gave it their all. We placed top 10 which hasn’t been done since 2012.”

The Eagles entered the tour­nament with eight qualifiers.

Ivan Miramontes (147) fin­ished fifth in his weight divi­sion after compiling a two-day record of 5-2. He lost his first match but battled back with four consecutive elimination-round wins, including two by pin and another by a 14-3 major decision, to advance to the con­solation semifinals.

However, Brawley’s Jose Guti­errez denied him a trip to the state meet on the strength of a narrow 4-3 victory.

Miramontes scored some per­sonal pride points by winning a 10-8 decision over Mt. Carmel’s Sebastian Day in the fifth-place match.

Josh Runge (154) and Skyler Hillberg (172) both won their opening two matches before being eliminated. Runge won by a pair of third-period pins while Hillberg won by a first-period pin and a 4-0 minor decision.

Izak Arredondo (184) finished 3-2 with two pins while Justin Carroll (134) finished 2-2. Spen­cer Earp (108) finished 1-2 with one pin.

Sheard credited the team’s success to both its coaching staff and, of course, the wres­tlers themselves.

“Our coaching staff is amaz­ing,” Sheard said. “The dedica­tion they put into these kids is huge. Every one of them plays a huge role in the success we’ve had so far.

“When we took over a few years ago we told them we are setting the goals high, and each year we expect to beat the year before, and they did that this year. The kids deserve all the credit. They worked hard to ac­complish this.”

Almost  famous

Second-seeded Granite Hills saw its championship hopes dashed in a 10-9 triple overtime loss to sixth-seeded La Costa Canyon in the semifinals of this year’s San Diego Section Divi­sion II girls water polo playoffs Feb. 20 at La Jolla High School.

The Lady Eagles finished 23- 6-1 overall after winning their second consecutive Grossmont Valley League championship this year.

“It was a tough loss, but I’m very proud of their accomplish­ments,” head coach Page Small said. “It was a successful season.”

The teams finished in a 7-7 tie through regulation and 9-9 through two full overtime peri­ods before LCC’s Mia McDonald scored the game-winning goal 54 seconds into the sudden-vic­tory period.

Freshman Chloe Morgan led Granite Hills on the scoreboard with three goals and four assists while senior Audrey Laskey col­lected three goals and two as­sists.

Senior Chase Dowling scored two goals while junior Aidyn Gaeir had one goal.

Senior goalie Nia Payne had two assists and 28 saves.

“This team was effort-based, they would always compete with maximum effort until the final buzzer,” Page said. “I’m very proud of what these players and program have been able to accomplish the past two years.”

• ••

After winning the Grossmont Valley League title and posting a school-record 14-game winning streak, the season ended for the Granite Hills boys bas­ketball team in Tuesday’s San Diego Section Division III semi­finals following a 85-60 loss at top-seeded San Ysidro.

The fifth-seeded Eagles fin­ished the season 17-10.

Granite Hills defeated 13th-seeded Hoover, 49-48, in last Friday’s quarterfinal playoffs on a three-point shot by Caleb Erickson at the buzzer. It was Erickson’s first and only basket of the game.

Senior guard McKay Roberts led the Eagles with 19 points.