The high school wrestling season is picking up momentum and the Granite Hills High School Eagles appear to be in the thick of race for this year’s Grossmont Hills League championship banner.
The Eagles have defeated Valhalla (45-45) and Grossmont (53- 17) in their opening two league dual meets and need wins in their final two mat appearances to claim sole possession of this year’s league championship.
Granite Hills will travel to West Hills High School for a high impact dual meet encounter on Thursday, Jan. 30, and host neighborhood rival Steele Canyon on Feb. 6 to close out league competition.
It looks to be an exciting finish to the season.
Granite Hills finished ahead of West Hills in the team standings at December’s 50-team El Cajon Invitational. However, West Hills out-pointed the Eagles to win the team title at the 25-team Monte Vista Invitational on Jan. 11.
Granite Hills head coach Jesse Sheard said he felt his team matches up well with the Wolf Pack.
“It’s going to come down to a match or two,” Sheard said. “It could come down to which wrestler can last the longest.”
Granite Hills scored some major prestige points when senior Jeremiah Satberry recorded a seventh-place individual place-finish at the Five Counties Invitational Jan. 10-11 at Fountain Valley High School.
Satberry pinned Justin Gardner from Henderson, Nev., in 2:25 to medal in what is considered one of the most challenging regular season tournaments in the state.
“It was a tough tournament,” Satberry admitted. “It’s one of the most challenging tournaments to wrestle in. You need to be consistent. The competition never lets up. You just have to make it through your matches.
“The finals were fun to watch.”
The Eagles sent a split squad to the Monte Vista Invitational that same weekend and came away with a bounty of 11 place-winners.
Ivan Miramontes captured the gold medal his 145-pound weight class while Izak Arredondo finished second in his 195-pound division.
Justin Carroll (138) and Josh Runge (152) both finished third in their respective weight classes while Joel Corella (138) and Carson Boehm (160) both captured fourth-place medals.
Kaden Lange (132) and Alec Peckman (182) both finished sixth in their weight divisions.
Garrett Smith (sixth) and Tanner Vielguth (eighth) both earned place-finishes in the same 220-pound weight class. Blake Riley finished eighth in the heavyweight division.
Granite Hills placed third at last weekend’s 35-team Battle by the Beach tournament at Mar Vista High School in Imperial Beach. The Eagles finished with 124 points to top Helix by 4.5 points. San Marcos edged La Costa Canyon 199.5 to 195.5 points for the team title.
Granite Hills recorded six medalists in the tournament.
Carroll finished 4-0 with two pins to win his 134-pound weight class while Skyler Hillberg finished 3-1 with one pin to place runner-up in his 172-pound division.
The Eagles also recorded one third-place finish (Corella at 140), one fourth-place finish (Michael Herrera at 147), one fifth-place finish (Boehm at 162) and one sixth-place finish (Satberry at 197).
Satberry (20-6) defaulted from the tournament after winning his opening two matches by pin.