The 49th annual El Cajon Invitational wrestling tournament will descend on San Ysidro High School Friday and Saturday to showcase not only some of the best teams and wrestlers from the San Diego Section but from around the western region as well.
The ECI is San Diego County’s longest-running tournament with a rich tradition, noted tournament director Steve Bulette.
“The ECI has grown to be one of the premier wrestling events in Southern California,” said Bulette, who serves as athletic director at Valhalla High School.
Fifty-two teams, including 44 teams from the San Diego Section, four teams from the Southern Section, one team from the Central Coast Section, one team from the Central Section and one team each from Arizona and Washington, are slated to participate in this weekend’s mat fest.
Wrestling will begin both days at 10 a.m.
Rancho Bernardo and Brawley highlight entrants from the San Diego Section. Rancho Bernardo won last season’s Division I championship en route to a runner-up finish at the San Diego Masters tournament while Brawley won last season’s Division III title en route to a third-place finish at the Masters tournament.
Olympian highlights the 10 entrants from the Metro Conference after placing second at last year’s Division I finals and recording a fifth-place finish at Masters.
Other South County teams entered include Bonita Vista, Chula Vista, Eastlake, Hilltop, Mar Vista, Mater Dei Catholic, Otay Ranch, Southwest and Sweetwater.
East County teams participating include Granite Hills, Helix, Mountain Empire, Santana, Steele Canyon, West Hills and tourney host Valhalla.
West Hills finished fourth at last season’s Division III finals before placing 12th at Masters.
Mt. Carmel (second at last season’s Division III finals, sixth at Masters) and Imperial (reigning Division IV champions, seventh Masters) are other heavyweight teams from the San Diego Section.
This year’s field is solid.
Frontier (Central Section) placed seventh at last season’s state championship meet while Hillcrest (Southern Division) and Sultana (Eastern Division) both won Southern Section titles last season.
Cienega placed second at last season’s Arizona Division II finals.
New to the fray this year is Moses Lake from Washington state, a team with 46 top 10 state finishes and 17 Washington state titles, including each of the last seven years with top two state finishes.
“Moses Lake is widely considered to be ‘Clovis/Buchanan’ of Washington,” Bulette offered in complimentary terms.
San Ysidro High School is located at 5353 Airway Road, San Diego.
Mat attack
Four Hilltop wrestlers earned medals at last Saturday’s 32nd Marauder Invitational at Mira Mesa High School: junior Dominic Gurule-Metzig (first at 145 pounds), freshman Carlo Arreola (second at 106 pounds), senior Christian Aguilera (second at 120 pounds) and sophomore Joaquin Angulo (fifth at 106 pounds).
Gurule-Metzig finished the tournament 5-0 with a 1:56 pin in the finals while Aguilera and Arreola both recorded 3-1 records.
Angulo finished 3-2.
Hilltop finished 12th in the 30-team field with 75.5 points — one point behind 10th place Mater Dei Catholic, which topped the five Metro Conference teams in the tournament with 76.5 points.
Mater Dei Catholic notched four place-winners: Keith Moreno (first, 106), Javier Salas (fourth, 138), Davian Monjaraz (fourth, 220) and Daniel Moreno (fifth, 132).
Montgomery finished 15th among teams with 49 points while San Ysidro was right behind in 16th place with 46 points. Chula Vista finished 21st with 33 points.
San Ysidro’s Angel Garcia finished third at 170 pounds while Montgomery’s Allen Irwin finished sixth at 120 pounds.
Chula Vista’s Jacob Ramirez (195) and Andrew Marquez (285) both finished sixth in their respective weight classes.
Consolation bracket winners included San Ysidro’s Gabriel Martinez (106) and Israel Ramirez (126) and Montgomery’s Ruben Rodriguez (138).
Tournament host Mira Mesa won the team title with 262 points while Valhalla finished second with 147 points. Grossmont was third with 110 points while El Camino was fourth with 101.5 points.
St. Augustine (fifth, 96.5 points), Escondido (sixth, 94 points), Point Loma (seventh, 93 points), Santana (eighth, 81 points) and Monte Vista (ninth, 79 points) rounded out the top 10 teams.
Weight class champions also included St. Augustine’s Dominic Pacheco (113), Valhalla’s Matthew Jordan (120), Mira Mesa’s Andy Nguyen (126), Matthew Bui (132) and Gavin Kaminski (138), Clairemont’s Erik Hofer (152), Valhalla’s Guadalupe Garcia (160), Army-Navy Academy’s Dominic Holthaus (170), Vincent Memorial’s Maxemiliano Guilin (182), Valhalla’s Michael Carmona (195), Santana’s Liam Clark (220) and Grossmont’s Darryn White (285).
Hamada Invitational
Olympian, with 100.5 points, led the cadre of Metro Conference teams at last weekend’s Hamada Invitational at La Costa Canyon High School with a 10th place finish. The Eagles’ place-winners included Michael Esquer (fourth, 160) and Ryan Magsino (seventh, 132).
Bonita Vista finished in 22nd place finish among the 63 teams. Michael Miller (fourth, 195) and Ayodele Oglinde (sixth, 285) both medaled for the Barons.
Eastlake finished 31st in the team standings with 62 points. Richard Inzunza (eighth, 160) and Jesus Plasencia (seventh, 113) both medaled for the Titans.
Chula Vista finished in 50th place with 19 points with Ricky Contreras (eighth, 285) as the Spartans’ only place-winner.
Carlsbad Invitational
Eastlake finished seventh among 34 teams at the season opening Carlsbad Invitational on Nov. 23 with 101.5 points. Plasencia captured first place in his 113-pound division as the Titans’ top place-winner while Vincent Miramontes was sixth at 126 pounds.
Bonita Vista finished 20th with 61 points while Castle Park finished 32nd with six points. Ricardo Castillo finished fourth at 138 pounds.
Brawley won the team title with 187.5 points, followed by Mt. Carmel with 139 points, San Marcos with 1385 points, Imperial with 134.5 points, Grossmont with 108 points and Granite Hills with 102 points.
