El Cajon, specifically Christian High School, will serve as the launch for San Diego Section wrestlers to this year’s state championship meet in Bakersfield.
Both gender fields will compete at this weekend’s San Diego Masters state qualifying meet in the Patriots’ gym. Competition is Friday, Feb. 21, and Saturday, Feb. 22. The top three female place-winners in each weight class advance to the state meet Feb. 27 to March 1 at Mechanics Bank Arena while the top four boys place-winners do so.
Twelve girls will start the road to state in each weight class at Masters while the boys field will feature 24 wresters in each bracket.
Living up to tradition, East County will be well represented on the mat following last weekend’s four boys divisional championships, plus the previous week’s three girls divisionals.
Granite Hills (Division I) and Valhalla (Division II) both engineered runner-up team finishes last week while El Capitan finished as the No. 4 team at the Division III finals. Christian’s fledgling team made an impact with a fourth-place finish at the Division IV tourney.
The Division I tournament took place at Olympian High School with 19 teams while the Division II tournament took place at Orange Glen High School, also with 19 teams. The Division III tournament took place at Ramona High School with 19 teams while Mar Vista High School hosted the Division IV tournament with 23 teams.
The top eight wrestlers in each weight class at the Division I tournament qualified for boys Masters while the top six in each of the Division II and Division III tournaments qualified. The top four place-finishers at the Division IV tournament advanced to compete on the mat for another week.
Eight-time running league champion Granite Hills tallied 319.5 points to finish behind team champion Poway (425.5 points) and ahead of third place
Torrey Pines (212 points). Helix, the only other East County team entered in the division, placed 12th with 70 points.
The Eagles qualified 14 grapplers to Masters. “Which as far as I know is the first time in school history,” Granite head coach Jesse Sheard said.
“The boys wrestled well and showed a lot of grit this weekend,” Sheard commented. “We scored 319 team points. I’m very proud of them and how they competed. With that being said, our ultimate goal remains qualifying and placing at the state meet.”
Granite Hills soared on the mat with 10 finalists, including 138-pound gold medalist Ames- Michael Hoevker and nine individual silver medalists: Damian Arreola (113 pounds), Emilio Escobar (120 pounds), Uriah Hawkins (126 pounds), Damian Jones (132 pounds), Layronz Fraser (144 pounds), Ryan Carroll (157 pounds), David Daniels (165 pounds), Junior Bumanglag (175 pounds) and Esteban Sanchez (215 pounds).
Other place-winners for the Eagles included Aiden Chur (third place, 150 pounds), Jovanni Mansour (fourth place, 190 pounds), Travin Shahbaz (fifth place, 285 pounds) and Wyatt Quiroga (seventh place, 106 pounds).
Poway and Granite Hills wrestlers paired up in 10 weight class finals but Hoevker was the only Eagle mat man to come out on top with a 14-9 decision over Matthew Orbeta.
Orange Nation
Valhalla came up short by 7.5 points in a race with Metro Conference champion Bonita Vista for the Division II team title. The division champion Barons totaled 237.5 points to Valhalla’s 230 points. Mt. Carmel was third with 222 points.
Steele Canyon finished 10th with 76 points while Grossmont was 13th with 61 points.
The division runner-up Norsemen finished with three individual champions: Refan Nael (144 pounds), Marcelino Nona (165 pounds) and Victor Gosswiller (215 pounds). Valhalla added three silver medalists: Caden Spring (113 pounds), Ivan Rivers (132 pounds) and Zachary Haggar (190 pounds).
There was one all-East County final with Valhalla’s Nael recording a 14-5 major decision over Steele Canyon’s Tyson Seeger.
In fact, the top three place-winners in the weight class were from the Grossmont Conference as Grossmont’s Alexander Resico finished third.
Also earning place-finishes for the Norsemen were Noor Al Saedi (fifth place, 126 pounds), Joshua Martinez (fifth place, 157 pounds), Nicholas Haggar (seventh place, 120 pounds), Abas Safi (seventh place, 138 pounds), Benjamin Rodriguez (seventh place, 175 pounds) and Michael Huerta (eighth place, 150 pounds).
Place-winners for Steele Canyon also included Jacob Vazquez (fourth place, 138 pounds), Wyatt Carr (fifth place, 190 pounds), Dylan Jackel (seventh place, 287 pounds) and John Carr (eighth place, 126 pounds).
Eastern exposure
Six East County teams competed at the Division III tournament with place-winners aplenty.
El Capitan led the East County mat attack with its fourth-place team finish with 157.5 points, followed by West Hills in sixth place with 119.5 points, Monte Vista in seventh place with 79 points, Santana in ninth place with 70.5 points, El Cajon Valley in 17th place with 35 points and Mt. Miguel in 19th place with 12 points.
El Cajon Valley’s Jayden Parks was the lone East County individual champion after pinning Santana’s Daniel DiCroce at 215 pounds in an all-Grossmont Conference final.
El Capitan netted one finalist — Riley Jones (second place, 132 pounds) — among 10 overall place-winners.
Also earning place-finishers for the Vaqueros were Liam Smith (fourth place, 113 pounds), Wyatt Welsh (fourth place, 175 pounds), Caiden Sarff (fourth place, 190 pounds), Marlon Ames (fourth place, 215 pounds), Mark Henzie (fifth place, 144 pounds), Evan Ortega (fifth place, 165 pounds), Ian Fierro (sixth place, 106 pounds), George Spears (sixth place, 150 pounds) and Preston Cash (seventh place, 157 pounds).
West Hills advanced three wrestlers to the championship round. Second-place medalists included Gerald Eganhouse (120 pounds), Weston Druckerman (165 pounds) and Johnathan Chisamore (175 pounds).
Also stepping on the award stand for the Wolf Pack were Jay Noriega (third place, 126 pounds) and Dylan Blackwood (fifth place, 138 pounds).
The Division III team title was settled between Brawley (335 points) and La Costa Canyon (250 points). St. Augustine finished third with 165.5 points to nose out El Capitan by eight points.
Mountain men
Mountain Empire was among the three East County teams that competed at the Division IV tournament in Imperial Beach. Christian led the way with its fourth-place finish with 108.5 points while Mountain Empire finished seventh with 93.5 points.
Place-winners for Mountain Empire included Wyatt Kowalski (third place, 132 pounds), Jason Landman (third place, 190 pounds), Weston Kowalski (fourth place, 144 pounds), Kaleb Aldrete (fifth place, 165 pounds), Amilio Beltran (sixth place, 113 pounds) and Caleb Best (sixth place, 126 pounds).
Christian was top heavy with three finalists: Wyatt Hypes (second place, 138 pounds), Bryce Vowels (second place, 157 pounds) and Jordan Moreno (second place, 190 pounds).
The opening round for both boys and girls matches at this weekend’s Masters is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Friday. Championship finals are slated for Saturday at 1 p.m., immediately followed by an awards ceremony.
