It was a spectacular showing by South County participants at last weekend’s eighth annual San Diego Section girls wrestling tournament at Sweetwater High School. All tallied up, five Metro Conference mat women won weight class championships while South County racked up 11 state meet qualifiers.
On top of that, the Otay Ranch Lady Mustangs finished second in the team standings.
It likely out-did anything in the sport to this point.
Four South County female wrestlers won section titles last season while nine qualified for the state meet.
The top two place-winners in each of 14 weight classes qualified for the upcoming state championship tournament Feb. 23-24 at the Visalia Convention Center.
The parade of local champions included Hilltop’s Jasmine Plasencia at 108 pounds, Olympian’s Alexa Downs at 123 pounds, Otay Ranch’s Dayna Mitchem at 152 pounds, and Montgomery’s Larisa Vasquez and Jasmin Ballesteros at 162 and 172 pounds, respectively.
Additional state meet qualifiers included Olympian’s Yesenia Marin Deguire (103 pounds), High Tech High Chula Vista’s Sarina Kuninaga (113 pounds), Hilltop’s Amber Plasencia (128 pounds) and Nahdia Barrientos (133 pounds), Mar Vista’s Sonia Baniqued (152 pounds) and Otay Ranch’s Aylin Salas (191 pounds) — all of whom finished in second place.
South County wrestlers qualified for the state meet in 10 of the 14 weight classes.
Jasmine Plasencia, Baniqued and Vasquez all qualified for last year’s state meet.
The 152-pound final featured an all-Metro Conference matchup between Mitchem and Baniqued.
Baniqued received the top seed in the weight class and reached the final with a pair of pins to extend her undefeated record to 25-0 this season. She pinned Clairemont’s Michaela Sterling in 1:34 in the quarterfinals and pinned Serra’s Paulina Jimenez in 5:49 in the semifinals.
Mitchem, seeded seventh, used three pins to power her way to the final. She pinned Lincoln’s Amaiyah Miller in 1:25 in the opening round, then delivered a statement by pinning San Pasqual’s Belen Merino, the second-seeded wrestler in the weight class, in 4:30 in the quarterfinals.
Mitchem advanced to the final after pinning Point Loma’s Rana Willink in 3:42 in the semifinals.
Baniqued and Mitchem exchanged scoring moves throughout their finals matchup until Mitchem emerged with an upset 14-12 win by decision.
It likely was the most exciting match of the finals round. Baniqued, one of four undefeated grapplers to reach the final, narrowed the score to 11-10 late in the match but Mitchem scored on a late reversal to record the thrilling victory.
Mitchem improved to 18-1 with the win.
Originally from Virginia, Mitchem said this was her first time competing in a girls championship tournament.
“I was nervous,” she admitted. “I wanted to be a little cautious because I had slightly banged-up my shoulder and wanted to protect my shoulder. The match went back and forth.”
She said her winning move was based more on adrenaline than technique. “I wanted it more, I wanted it bad,” she said.
Jasmine Plasencia etched her name in local girls wrestler lore as a four-time state qualifier and three-time section champion after defeating San Diego’s Corrina Swift by a 12-5 decision in last Saturday’s 108-pound final.
Plasencia, a two-time CIF tournament MVP as a sophomore and junior, placed first at 103 pounds at last year’s section finals to qualify for the 2017 state championship meet but was unable to attend the event.
The Hilltop senior said she used that as motivation this season.
“I’m a lot more motivated this year since I didn’t get to go last year,” she explained. “I’ve gotten a lot more mentally stronger. I used to doubt myself. I’m in better shape; I’ve been sharpening my technique.
“It feels great to be going back again (to the state meet).”
Plasencia, who earned the top seed in her weight class and improved her season record to 25-5 with the 4-0 showing, opened the tournament with pin times of 25 and 34 seconds. She recorded a 12-2 major decision over Brawley’s Alyssa Bravo in the semifinals.
Downs defeated Imperial’s Ariah Valdez by a 3-1 decision in the finals to become Olympian’s first CIF champion. She scored an escape point with 30 seconds left to solidify her win.
“It feels amazing — there are no words to describe it,” said Downs, who improved to 22-4 with the win over Valdez.
Downs, seeded third, and Valdez, seeded fourth, both proved they had the right stuff to make it to the finals. Valdez upset top-seeded Kayla Santos of Westview by a 2-0 decision in the semifinals while Downs bested second-seed Valiry Shipley of Otay Ranch by a 7-5 decision in the semifinals.
Downs opened the tournament with quick pins of 33 and 24 seconds.
Montgomery brought five wrestlers to last weekend’s tournament and strode off the mat with two section champions and three state qualifiers.
Vasquez, a fourth-year wrestler, received the second seed in her weight class and finished the two-day event with four pins in as many matches.
She pinned Clairemont’s Adriana Petkova, seeded third, in 3:20 in the semifinals, then used a chicken wing pinning move to pin San Diego’s Dulce Patino, seeded fourth, in 2:13 in the finals.
“My goal was to place first because last year I placed second at 172 pounds,” said Vasquez, who improved to 15-3 on the season. “I had to work hard, work out to my fullest.
“It felt amazing to reach my goal (of being a section champion). It made me go to tears. I wanted to lay down but I couldn’t.”
“This year she came out really focused,” Montgomery coach David Jaraumayan said in regard to Vasquez’s performance. “She cleaned up her moves so she could execute them better. She came in healthy and focused for the postseason. That was a big factor for us.”
Vasquez broke into tears again when Ballesteros, her teammate, emerged with a 7-4 win by decision over top-seeded Stephanie Villafuentes of Calexico in the next finals match.
Ballesteros, a sophomore, certainly had a tournament to remember after upsetting the second-seeded wrestler in her weight class, Central Union’s Chole Rabe, by a 3:26 in the first match of the tournament. The Lady Aztec mat warrior went on to add two more pins to advance to the final.
“I pushed myself because I knew I could do it,” said Ballesteros, who improved to 20-8. “I have no words (to describe being a section champion).”
The copious tears she shed told all.
Ballesteros credited Vasquez for helping make her a champion.
“She pushes me every day in practice,” Ballesteros said.
“I push her and she pushes me,” Vasquez added. “I want her to be better than me.”
Silver linings
Jasmine Plasencia and younger sister Amber added to their history-making showing by becoming two sisters on the same team to qualify for the state meet.
Amber Plasencia (24-10) advanced to the 128-pound final against Lincoln’s Phonisha Pruitt after winning her opening three matches by pin. However, Pruitt proved to be a roadblock to a weight class championship after dealing the Lady Lancer wrestler a 7-0 loss to improve to 24-0 on the season.
But the younger Plasencia still had another chance to qualify for the state meet.
The section finals format for girls wrestling includes a match for a true second place.
Girls who lost their matches in the finals got a second chance to qualify for the state meet by meeting the consolation bracket winner for second place.
The winner of the extra bout was awarded second place and the loser of the extra bout was awarded third place.
However, if the two wrestlers had wrestled in a previous round, that result would count and the extra match would not be wrestled.
The latter was the case for Amber Plasencia, who had previously defeated San Pasqual’s Isabella Schultz by a 2:40 pin in the semifinals.
Amber Plasencia was officially awarded second place and Schultz was awarded third place.
Both Plasencia sisters are daughters of Hilltop coach Xavier Plasencia Sr.
“I think it’s great,” the proud father said. “They really push each other. They motivate each other.”
In fact, all three Hilltop wrestlers entered in the tournament qualified for the upcoming state meet after Nahdia Barrientos (20-7) defeated San Pasqual’s Gabriela Grimaldo by a 2:00 pin in the second-place match at 133 pounds.
Barrientos had advanced to the finals on the strength of three consecutive pins before losing by a 3:44 pin to Clairemont’s Anne-Marie Maskalenko, who secured first place with the win.
“I’m proud of the girls we brought to wrestle at CIF this year,” the Hilltop coach said. “They are grounded with a strong work ethic.”
A total of six South County mat women qualified for the state meet by capturing second-place matchups.
Besides Hilltop’s Amber Plasencia and Barrientos, Olympian’s Marin Degjuire (103), High Tech High Chula Vista’s Kuninaga (113), Mar Vista’s Baniqued (152) and Otay Ranch’s Salas (191) all won second-place matches.
After being upset in the finals by Mitchem, Baniqued came back to punch her ticket to the state meet by pinning San Pasqual’s Merino in 2:35.
Baniqued, who improved to 25-1, matched her second-place showing at last year’s tournament. She finished 2-2 at last year’s state meet in turning in one of the section’s stronger individual showings.
Her motivation in the true second place match was simple. “I just didn’t want to lose,” she said. “I had to come back; I knew I was better than that.
“It feels great, especially since it’s my senior year. I feel I’ve accomplished a lot since my freshman year.”
Kuninaga, a fourth-year wrestler, won on a takedown with less than 10 seconds left to top San Ysidro’s Desirae Ferguson by a 5-4 decision.
It was a move up a place for the HTH grappler, who finished third at last year’s event.
She becomes the third state qualifier in four years for the Lady Bruins.
“It’s unbelievable to have the kids keep producing, particularly with the limited amount of time we have,” HTHCV coach Trevor Keifer said.
Kuninaga (20-4) earned the third seed in her weight class and opened with pins of 1:07 and 5:29 against lower-seeded wrestlers. She earned a berth in the finals after dealing second-seeded Tara Mooney of Westview a 4-3 loss in the semifinals.
Ferguson officially placed third in the weight class following the loss to Kuninaga.
In other second-place matches:
- Marin Deguire (22-5) pinned Eastlake’s Jasela Silva in 1:37 at 103 pounds after dropping a 1-0 decision to Torrey Pines’ Emily Sway in the finals. Marin Deguire finished the tournament 4-1 with three pins.
- Salas (20-3) won by rule over Mountain Empire’s Rose Buel at 191 pounds after previously defeating Buel by a 6-3 decision in the semifinals.
Eastlake’s Silva joined San Ysidro’s Ferguson, Otay Ranch’s Shipley (123), Montgomery’s Leilani Pompa (139) and Otay Ranch’s Lucero Perez (145) as third-place medalists.
After losing to Imperial’s Valdez in the semifinals, Shipley came back to win the consolation bracket by a 5-3 decision over Westview’s Kayla Santos. In the match for second place, Imperial’s Valdez topped Shipley by an 8-2 decision to secure the final state-qualifying berth in the weight class.
Pompa recorded successive pins to start the tournament but ran into a buzzsaw in Lyng in the semifinals, losing by a 1:26 pin. Pompa then defeated Castle Park’s Ayianna Fernandez in the consolation bracket final by a 4:23 pin to advance to the second-place match.
Westview’s Kira Satnick, a loser to Lyng by a 43-second pin in the finals, defeated Pompa by a 1:21 pin to capture second place.
Perez, as a returning state qualifier, earned the No. 1 seed at 145 pounds but lost to Valley Center’s Sierra Mefford by a 4:39 pin in the semifinals. Perez came back to pin Mira Mesa’s Trinity Sanchez in 3:26 in the consolation final.
However, Mefford defeated Perez by the tiebreaker rule after losing to La Costa Canyon’s Maddie Konopka in the finals.
South County finished with 20 medalists overall.
Fourth-place finishers included HTH Chula Vista’s Samantha Magpusao (108), Mar Vista’s Azalya Trujillo (118), Castle Park’s Fernandez (139) and Olympian’s Jolyna Heng (162).
Magpusao was a state meet qualifier a year ago after placing runner-up at 108 pounds.
Eastlake’s Luz Mercado placed fifth in her 108-pound weight class while Otay Ranch’s Tiffany Beltran placed fifth at 172 pounds.
Mercado, a junior, previously competed in cross country. She’s taken a liking to girls wrestling. “The sport challenges you every day,” she said. “You learn new things about yourself.”
Sixth-place finishers included HTH Chula Vista’s Caitlyn Dayton (118), Olympian’s Valeria Aguilar (128) and Ariana Reynoso (133), Chula Vista’s Sandra Gaytan (152) and San Ysidro’s Cindy Luevano (191).
South County finished with 27 place-winners overall.
San Pasqual won the team championship with 148.5 points while Otay Ranch finished in second place with 115.5 points.
The Lady Mustangs entered eight girls in the tournament: seven advanced to the second day of competition, four won medals and five earned place-finishes.
“Last year we had one qualifier for state,” second-year coach Dan Aguirre said. “She placed eighth — the first girl to place (at the state meet) from the Sweetwater district.
“After that, the girls got excited and motivated.”
Numbers swelled from four the first year to 11 this season, including seven first-year wrestlers.
Eight of the 12 South County teams entered in the tournament managed to finish among the top 20 scoring teams.
Olympian finished sixth with 93 points, followed by Hilltop in seventh place with 83 points, Montgomery in eighth place with 80 points, High Tech High Chula Vista in 10th place with 66 points, Eastlake in 12th place with 61 points, Mar Vista in 14th place with 59 points, San Ysidro in 16th place with 48 points.
Eastlake produced three state qualifiers in 2016 and one state qualifier last season.
“It was a rebuilding year for us,” EHS coach D.J. Mancillas said. “We started with 17 girls and finished the season with 14, and brought five to CIF. We’re working to have a strong presence in the South Bay (again).”
Olympian, led by second-year coach Jessie Perez, a former wrestler at the school, had five place-finishers and three medalists.
“It feels good,” Perez said about the team’s performance. “We worked hard all season. All the teamwork counted when it mattered. We brought nine to this tournament and five made it to the second day. We’re picking it up.”
Clairemont finished third in the team standings with 111 points, followed by fourth place Brawley (103 points) and fifth place Westview (102 points). Mount Miguel led East County team with a ninth-place finish with 68 points.
Ladies first, in this case, do you know the way to Visalia?
The eighth annual San Diego Section girls wrestling championship tournament took place Feb. 9-10 at Sweetwater High School in National City.
When the final whistle had sounded, 11 South County mat women had punched their ticket to the state championship meet Feb. 23-24 at the Visalia Convention Center.
Five wrestlers won weight class championships. It was a record showing for local female wrestlers on an appropriate showcase stage.
A total of 221 wrestlers had preregistered for last weekend’s section finals. The tournament continues to grow both in numbers and caliber of competition.
“It’s really grown,” explained San Diego Section Commissioner Jerry Schniepp, who was on hand to present awards. “It’s an exciting event. It’s great seeing the emotion from the girls.”
Schniepp recalled initial resistance at the state level to establishing girls wrestling as a state championship sport but the sport has now been embraced at the state level.
“It’s really been great for San Diego,” Schniepp said. “It’s been really good for girls.”
The numbers tell the story in the growth of girls wrestling within the section. Wrestlers from 13 different schools won individual section championships this year while wrestlers from 23 schools will represent the section at the upcoming state finals.
That’s a very diverse field.
“It’s come a long way,” explained tournament director Trevor Keifer, who coaches at High Tech High Chula Vista. “We started with about 60 girls and around 20 teams. We had 51 teams represented this year.
“The quality has improved dramatically. We used to see a lot of head-and-arm pins. The sport has gained more prestige. The program heads are starting to show up. We’re seeing bigger teams.”
Mat attack
This year’s competition was spread over two days. Preliminary rounds took place Feb. 9 with medal rounds held the second day.
Girls competed in 14 weight classes. The top two finishers in each weight class qualified to compete in the upcoming state tournament.
The top four girls in each weight class at the section finals received medals.
The sport has already started to produce its own superstars.
Helix’s Destiny Lyng will be making her third appearance at the state meet. She finished third last year and could the section’s best hope for a gold medal this year.
She dominated last weekend’s meet with pin times of :35, :23, 1:26 and :43 in her 139-pound weight division to earn the Outstanding Middle Weight award.
Lincoln’s Phonisha Pruitt improved to 24-0 on the season after winning her 128-pound division with three first-period pins and a 7-0 shutout win in the finals.
Other section champions included Torrey Pines’s Emily Sway (103), Hilltop’s Jasmine Plasencia (108), Ramona’s Savannah Kiddoo (113), Olympian’s Alexa Downs (123), Clairemont’s Anne-Marie Maskalenko (133), La Costa Canyon’s Maddie Konopka (145), Otay Ranch’s Dayna Mitchem (152), Montgomery’s Larisa Vasquez (162) and Jasmin Ballesteros (172), San Pasqual’s Emily Velazquez (191) and El Camino’s Madlyne Navarro (237).
Kiddoo (lower weight) and Otay Ranch’s Mitchem (upper weight) also received most valuable wrestler awards.
Konopka and Navarro both remained undefeated on the season at 12-0.
Plasencia is a four-time state meet qualifier for Hilltop.
Add CIF
The boys individual wrestling championships will take place Saturday, Feb. 17, at four sites around the section. Wrestlers will be out to earn a spot in the following weekend’s San Diego Masters state qualifying tournament.
Canyon Crest Academy will host the Division I tournament while Poway High School will host the Division II tournament.
Montgomery High School will host the Division III tournament while Mater Dei Catholic High School will host the Division IV tournament.
Olympian High School in Chula Vista will host the two-day Masters tournament Feb. 23-24.
The state finals are scheduled March 2-3 in Bakersfield.
The top seven place-finishers at the Division I and Division II tournaments advance to the Masters meet while the top six place-finishers at the Division III tournament do so. Only the top four place-finishers at the Division IV tournament receive automatic Masters qualifying slots.
The section dual meet championship took place Feb. 10 at Rancho Bernardo High School. Division champions included San Marcos (Division I), Poway (Division II), Brawley (Division III) and Ramona (Division IV).
Runner-up teams included Vista (Division I), Rancho Bernardo (Division II), University City (Division III) and Valley Center (Division IV).
Olympian finished third in the Division I duals.
