As many high school wrestling fans may or may not already know, the California state championship tournament is one of the top three toughest in the nation in which to compete. There is no easy match.
Place in the Golden State and you have earned a place among this country’s prep elite.
The Granite Hills High School program qualified 11 grapplers to this year’s mega-event, held Feb. 27 to March 1 at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield. The Eagles mat program came home with three individual place-winners (two boys and one girl) and a 14th place finish as a team in the boys tournament.
“We did well,” head coach Jesse Sheard said. “Our kids competed well and showed a lot of grit throughout the three days. I was proud of how they went out there and represented themselves and the program.”
Lucia Ledezma recorded a fourth-place finish in her 140-pound weight class to lead the Granite Hills contingent in the medal count.
Among the boys, junior Ames- Michael Hoevker finished sixth in his 138-pound division while Junior Bumanglag placed eighth in his 175-pound weight.
Ledezma previously placed runner-up at the San Diego Masters state-qualifying tournament Feb. 21-22 at Christian High School and second at the San Diego Section Division I championship tournament Feb. 8 at Rancho Bernardo High School.
At state, she won her opening three matches (all by shutout margins) to advance to the semifinals. She defeated Foothill Bakersfield’s Isabella Maldonado (Round of 32) and Norwalk’s Amber Farr (Round of 16) by identical 5-0 scores. The Lady Eagle standout continued her championship bracket run with a 2-0 win over Poway’s Xiomara Gallego (third at Masters).
Lodged in the semifinals, Ledezma saw her state winning streak end with a 10-0 loss to Pitman’s Yzabella Austin, the eventual state champion in the weight class.
Ledezma was not finished, however, as she posted a commanding 16-1 technical fall against Monterey’s Ella Myers in the consolation semifinals. That pushed her to the bronze medal match against Clovis East’s Jaelyn Unpingco, who claimed third place with a 2:21 pin.
Ledezma finished 4-2 at the state meet with three shutout wins and a technical fall.
Austin defeated Rancho Bernardo’s Mary Snider (first at Masters) by a 7-1 decision in the gold medal match.
Hoevker entered the state tournament as the reigning SD Masters champion and outstanding middle weight wrestler after winning the preceding Division I tournament.
Hoevker also won his opening three matches to advance to the semifinals. His first match at the state meet was one to remember with a 16-0 technical fall against Selma’s Davrius Gutierrez.
The competition got stronger from there as Hoevker posted an 11-9 decision over Buchanan’s Blake Woodward in the Round of 16. A 5-3 win over Fountain Valley’s Vinnie Gutierrez followed in the quarterfinals.
The Granite Hills man mat had his run stalled via a 11-4 loss to St. John Bosco’s Jesse Grajeda, the eventual silver medalist in the weight class.
The loss dropped Hoevker to the consolation semifinals against Clovis’s Raymond Rivera, whose 9-3 win dropped Hoevker to the fifth-place match and a rematch against Fountain Valley’s Gutierrez.
Gutierrez won 3-1 to hand Hoevker the sixth-place medal.
Gilroy’s Elijah Cortez out-pointed Grajeda, 3-2, to claim the state title.
Hoevker finished 3-3 in Bakersfield.
Bumanglag qualified for the state meet after placing second at the SD Masters following a second-place showing at the Division I tournament.
He won his opening two matches to advance to the quarterfinals — a 3-0 win over Pacifica’s Nathaniel Dominguez (Round of 32) and 17-0 tech fall against Paloma Valley’s Javon Major (Round of 16).
Bamanglag lost by a 9-1 major decision to Pitman’s Mason Ontiveros in the quarterfinals (eventual silver medalist) but bounced back with a 10-2 win over Temecula Valley’s Ashton Lassig in the consolation round to assure himself of a state medal.
Bamanglag lost his next two matches, however, to drop to the seventh-place match. He dropped a 15-10 decision to Maria Carrillo’s Logan Bruce, then lost 7-1 to St. John Bosco’s Isai Fernandez in the medal round.
Bumanglag finished 3-3 at the state meet.
Gilroy’s Tyler Eise defeated Ontiveros 13-4 to win the division’s gold medal.
Granite Hills finished the boys tournament with 48.5 points — one point ahead of Vacaville (47.5 points) and 2.5 points behind San Jose Del Oro (51 points).
Poway led the San Diego Section with a second-place team finish in the boys tournament and a sixth-place team finish in the girls tournament. The Titans finished just 7.5 points behind team champion Buchanan, which captured its ninth state title.
The Lady Titans were in the mix by placing one-half point behind fifth place Marina and five points behind fourth place Orange Vista.
Buchanan won the boys championship with 247.5 points while Clovis East edged Northview 84.5-77 to win the girls team title. Gilroy finished third in the boys field with 239 points — one point behind Poway.
San Marcos finished in 19th place in the girls standings with 38 points while Rancho Bernardo finished 24th with 32 points, one point ahead of Brawley (25th place).
The section finished with 11 medalists in the boys field and 13 medal-winners in the girls field.
