Steele Canyon places third at CIF wrestling final

By all accounts, girls wres­tling within the San Diego Sec­tion continues to grow. Explod­ing might be a better descrip­tion.

The section held its Division I and Division II championships last Saturday. The Division I tournament at Steele Canyon High School featured 32 teams while the Division II tourna­ment at Santana High School included a robust field of 39 teams.

That’s a total of 71 schools that participated in this year’s divisional tournaments.

That’s more than impressive.

Metro Conference champion Olympian won its fourth CIF championship at this year’s Di­vision I finals while longtime desert power Brawley captured this year’s Division II champi­onship.

East County fared well as usual with nine finalists and six individual weight class cham­pions.

Steele Canyon finished third in the Division I tournament while Granite Hills was eighth. Monte Vista was fifth at the Di­vision II tournament while San­tana and West Hills were 11th and 12th, respectively.

Ladies first

Steele Canyon, Granite Hills, Grossmont, Helix Charter and Valhalla participated in the Di­vision I tournament. Olympian was followed by runner-up San Marcos. Poway finished fourth behind Steele Canyon.

The five East County teams produced three individual weight class champions and two more second-place finishers.

Steele Canyon’s Marina Gon­zalez captured the 170-pound individual championship while Granite Hills’ Kyli Stanley (130 pounds) and Lucia Ledezma (140 pounds) each won individ­ual gold medals.

Reika Proctor finished run­ner-up in her 105-pound weight class for Steele Canyon while Aubrey Gaona was second at 155 pounds for the Lady Cou­gars.

The top four wrestlers in both the Division I and Division II tournaments received medals as well as earning advancement to the San Diego Section Masters state-qualifying tournament Feb. 17 at Southwest El Centro High School.

Overall, eight East County mat women earned medals at the Division I tournament.

Also placing for Steele Can­yon were Kayla Hopkins (third, 130 pounds), Sajdel Romero Rodriguez (third, 190 pounds), Valeria Anaya (sixth, 120), Alani Trudgeon (sixth, 145 pounds) and Angelica Murguia (fourth, 235 pounds).

Granite Hills’ place-finishers also included Peyton Wells (fourth, 155 pounds), Jayselle Suetos (sixth, 105 pounds), Nat­alie Ortiz (sixth, 115 pounds) and Stephanie Mata (sixth, 190 pounds).

Gonzalez finished 4-0 with four pins – 36 seconds over Calexico’s Melany Sanchez in the first round, 1:29 over Gran­ite Hills’ Genesis Heredia in the quarterfinals, 56 seconds over Central Union’s Jovani Calip- Nigos in the semifinals and 1:13 over San Marcos’ Nirvana Tapia in the championship match.

Stanley, a returning state meet qualifier, finished 3-0 with three pins. After receiving a bye, she pinned Scripps Ranch’s Khyla Adams in 3:45 in the quarterfinals and Poway’s So­phia Fodera in 1:24 in the semi­finals. The Lady Eagle standout pinned Central Union’s Aubrei Beltran in 4:27 in the champi­onship round.

Ledezma finished 4-0 with three pins. After receiving a bye to start the tournament, she pinned Helix’s Danikah- Lynn Academia in 33 seconds in the second round before pin­ning Grossmont’s Grace Parent in 5:30 in the quarterfinals. Le­dezma pinned Mira Mesa’s Isa­bel Manalansan in 26 seconds in the semifinals and capped her gold medal performance with a 10-3 decision over Ran­cho Bernardo’s Mary Snider in the finals.

“Kyli and Lucy looked good and ready for Masters and state,” Granite Hills coach Jesse Sheard said.

By the numbers

Monte Vista, Santana, West Hills, El Capitan, El Cajon Val­ley, Mountain Empire, Liberty Charter and Mt. Miguel partici­pated in the Division II tourna­ment. Brawley was followed by Holtville, Oceanside and Ramo­na. Southwest El Centro placed sixth behind Monte Vista.

East County finished the tourney with three weight class champions and one runner-up.

Monte Vista’s Olivia Davis, West Hills’ Kayla Lim and El Cajon Valley’s Honey Orduno Rivas, all returning state meet qualifiers, each won gold med­als – Lim at 115 pounds, Davis at 140 pounds and Orduno at 235 pounds.

Santana’s Amber Spencer, another returning state meet qualifier, finished second at 145 pounds.

Masters qualifiers also in­cluded El Capitan’s Destiny Jahnig (third, 100 pounds) and Lillian Kohler (fourth, 115 pounds), Santana’s Sierra Fahn (third, 125 pounds) and Rachel Taylor (fourth, 140 pounds) and Monte Vista’s Emily Hawkins (third, 135 pounds) and Aure­liana Velazquez (fourth, 235 pounds).

Other place-winners included Mountain Empire’s Ayana Bel­tran (fifth, 100 pounds), West Hills’ Gizelle Fort (sixth, 120 pounds) and Mt. Miguel’s Steph­anie Boyle (sixth, 235 pounds).

Overall, East County squads recorded 10 medal-winners at the Division II tournament.

Davis finished 4-0 with three dominating pins – 13 seconds over Ramona’s Jenna R. Lee in the opening round, 44 seconds over Southwest El Centro’s Keyla Baez in the quarterfinals and Lincoln’s Jazmyne Mora in the semifinals. Davis won by medical forfeit over Oceanside’s Chloe Stidham in the champi­onship round.

Lim finished 5-0 with five pins — 14 seconds over Castle Park’s Brittaney Esparza in the first round, 1:40 over Montgom­ery’s Elisa Rocha in the second round, 18 seconds over South­west San Diego’s Michelle Ro­driguez in the quarterfinals, 2:23 over El Capitan’s Lillian Kohler in the semifinals and 1:42 over Brawley’s Jocelyn Mendez in the finals.

Orduno Rivas finished 3-0 with three pins – 22 seconds over Mt. Miguel’s Boyle in the quarterfinals, 1:26 over Braw­ley’s Sevyn Diaz in the semifi­nals and 1:46 over Holtville’s Kaitlyn Haven in the champi­onship round.

Orduno Rivas spent just 3:34 on the mat.

Lim stunned opponents with four first-period falls.

“In my opinion, there is no one more deserving than Kay­la,” West Hills coach Mike Proc­tor said. “She is truly the heart and soul of our wrestling team. The first one to show up the last one to leave, and the hardest working person in our room. She truly is an exceptional young woman.”

Certainly, Lim will be one of the headliners at the upcom­ing Masters state-qualifying tournament that will showcase the top four place-winners from each of the Division I and Di­vision II tournaments (eight qualifiers overall).

The top four wrestlers at Masters will receive medals; the top three-place-winners will ad­vance to the state tournament.

Monte Vista’s Davis won last year’s San Diego Masters title while Santana’s Spenser and Granite’s Stanley both finished second. Lim, Granite’s Peyton Wells and ECV’s Orduno Rivas all placed third.