The Granite Hills High School wrestling team continues to test itself in some of the state’s and nation’s top high school tournaments.
The Eagles competed at last weekend’s 115-team Doc Buchanan Invitational at Clovis High School. The tournament is ranked among the nation’s toughest at the prep level.
Granite Hills entered the celebrated tournament ranked seventh among teams in California while senior Collin Guffey was ranked first in his 165-pound weight class in the state.
A national ranking could be forthcoming for the Alpine wrestler after he won his weight class with a 5-0 mark against grapplers from De La Salle, Calvary Chapel, Palm Desert, Clovis and St. John Bosco.
Senior Abram Cline also earned recognition after advancing as far as the championship quarterfinals at 116 pounds before ending the tournament in the consolation wrestle-backs.
Granite Hills placed 15th in the massive field with 53 points, sandwiched between 14th-place Toppenish, Wash. (58 points) and 16th-place Pleasant Grove, Utah 52 points).
The tournament attracted wrestlers from as far away as Georgia, Ohio, Utah, Oklahoma, Washington, Nevada, Idaho, Illinois, Alaska, Nebraska, Colorado, Oregon, Florida, Missouri, Arizona, Wyoming and Virginia.
Man of the match
Guffey was the Eagles’ lone finalist, lone gold medalist and lone top-eight place-finisher in this year’s national-rated Doc B field.
Competing at 168 pounds, Guffey opened with pins in his opening two matches (Round of 32 and Round of 16), both in the second period. His trek continued with gritty regulation victories.
Guffey doubled up Palm Desert’s David Alonso by a 4-2 score in the quarterfinals and then topped Adrien Reyes of Clovis by a 3-0 shutout decision in the semifinals.
Guffey recorded a 5-4 decision over St. John Bosco’s Joseph Antonio to cap one of the biggest wins in his career, and the biggest so far this season.
The Granite Hills wrestler placed runner-up at last year’s Doc B tournament. Weight class winners receive oversize cowboy hats, the tournament’s top prize.
Cline opened the mat extravaganza with a 57-second pin before recording a 4-1 decision over an opponent from Idaho. He advanced to the championship quarterfinals, dropping an 8-4 match to Ethan Timar from St. Edward, Ohio, the eventual fourth-place finisher, before continuing in the consolation bracket with a loss to Canyon Springs’ Max Murillo.
In a show of force, Poway won this year’s Doc B with 223 points to out-pace St. Edward (second, 206 points), California power Buchanan (third, 173 points), Gilroy (fourth, 171.5 points), St. John Bosco (fifth, 151.5 points) and Clovis (sixth, 116 points).
Poway loaded up with eight medalists, including two champions (Paul Kelly at 141 pounds and Angelo Posada at 178 pounds) and three silver medal-winners (Arseni Kikinou at 109 pounds, Edwin Sierra at 116 pounds and Robert Platt at 218 pounds) while Gilroy led the field with three champions. Eighth-place Palm Desert had two champions.
Also for Poway, Laird Root (153 pounds) placed third, Billy Townson (129 pounds) placed fourth and Elias Navida (135 pounds) placed fifth.
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Grossmont finished in fifth place in last Saturday’s 11th annual dual meet tournament at Hilltop High School to cap a 3-2 showing on the mat in the 10-team field.
The Foothillers opened the tournament with a 51-25 setback to Olympian, then came up on the short end of a 50-12 score to Mt. Carmel. The East County squad won its last three matchups to finish with a winning record on the day: 39-34 over host Hilltop, 63-6 over San Ysidro and 54-28 over Eastlake.
Jacob Barnes (134 pounds), Mason Emmerson (146 pounds) and Luke Freeman (217 pounds) all finished undefeated on the day. Emmerson and Freeman were both 5-0 while Barnes was 3-0.
Three wrestlers finished with one loss: Caleb Osegueda (4-1 at 115 pounds), Sam Adame (4-1 at 287 pounds) and Alex Risico (3-1 at 140 pounds). Foothillers head coach Aaron Armstrong believes the remainder of the season holds much promise for his Grossmont Valley League team.
“I think we’ll be competing for the league championship,” he said. “It will probably come down to us and El Capitan, and we meet in the final dual meet on Feb. 1. It should be a great match.”
Helix had two finalists at the season-opening at Carlsbad Invitational: Ja’Kar Carter (first at 190 pounds) and Ahlijah Davis (second at 215 pounds). Kingsley Frank finished third at 165 pounds.
Steele Canyon had three finalists: Johnathan Kaiser (first at 165 pounds), Esteban Medina (second at 132 pounds) and Jacob Vazquez (second at 150 pounds).
Steele Canyon finished fourth in the team standings while Helix was fifth.
