The 2022 California high school state wrestling championships wrapped up Feb. 24-26 in Bakersfield. The San Diego Section posted some encouraging results: 13 medalists in the boys field and 10 medalists and one champion in the girls field.
Broken down:
Perennial section champion Poway finished runner-up in the team standings in the boys tournament with 256.5 points and 11 place-winners – 13.5 points behind team champion Buchanan — while Rancho Bernardo finished 20th with 42 points and one place-winner.
The state title was the sixth consecutive for Buchanan.
The section did not advance any wrestlers to the championship round but did flood the third-place matches with seven mat men — all from Poway.
Brock Bobzien (132), Johnny Lopez (138), Noah Tolentino (145), Laird Root (1520 and Lucas Condon (170) all placed third in their respective weight classes while Titans Edwin Sierra (106) and Angelo Posada (160) were fourth.
There was a bit more diversity in the fifth-place matches. Granite Hills sophomore Collin Guffey placed fifth in his 132-pound division while Poway’s Braden Pease (195) and Jamikael Lytle (285) also placed fifth. Poway’s Elias Navida (113) placed sixth.
Seventh-place medals went to Poway’s Paul Kelly (126) and Rancho Bernardo’s Ryan Badgett (160).
Overall, South County had six state qualifiers: Olympian’s Abram Cline (106) and Carlo Arreola (113), Mater Dei Catholic’s Keith Moreno (113), Eastlake’s Tomas Jacobo (138), San Yisdro’s Santiago Luna (147) and Montgomery’s Christian Venegas (285).
Cline and Luna both advanced as far as the Round of 16 in the championship bracket without a loss while Jacobo made it as far as the Round of 32 without a loss.
Cline lost by a 3:15 pin to El Dorado’s Isaiah Quintero, the eventual weight class champion.
Luna lost, 8-2, to Fountain Valley’s Zachary Parker, the eventual sixth-place medalist.:
Cline recorded a 14-1 major decision over Laguna Creek’s Zack Hoover in the Round of 32 while Luna edged Yucaipa’s Sammy Mendoza by a 6-5 decision.
Meanwhile, Jacobo lost, 8-3, in sudden victory against Temecula Valley’s Abel Gaitan, the eventual seventh-place medalist.
Moreno lost in the Round of 64 by a 4:37 pin to Gilroy’s Elijah Cortez while Venegas lost by a 7-0 decision to Mayfair’s Andrew Prado.
Girl power
Valley Center paced the section with an 18th place finish in the girls team standings while Brawley tied for 20th place.
Brawley’s Savannah Gomez was the section’s lone champion with a 1:29 fall over Downey’s Stephanie Chavez at 137 pounds.
Calexico’s Karen Salais (106) and Valley Center’s Desiree Jones (150) both placed third while El Cajon Valley’s Valeria Rocha (235) was fourth.
Poway’s Alejandra Valdiviezo (121), Mt. Carmel’s Milana Sims (131) and Olympian’s Angelina Leal (235) all finished sixth.
Mira Mesa’s Birta McCaskill (106) placed seventh while eighth-place medalists included Crawford’s Foshay Mallard (170) and La Costa Canyon’s Alexandria Perez (189).
Rocha, the Division II section and Masters champion, lost by a 7-1 decision to Rocklin’s Gemma Templeman.
Leal, the reigning Metro Conference and Division I section champion, lost by an uncharacteristic 36-second pin to Ridgeview’s Monique Bravo Lerena.
Salais, Gomez, Leal and Rocha all advanced to the semifinals, though only Gomez won her match (4-0 over Paloma Valley’s Reyna Montenegro). Salais lost by a 3-0 decision to Arroyo’s Emilie Gonzalez while Leal dropped a 3-2 decision to Elk Grove’s Annika Miles. Rocha lost by a 5-0 decision to Capistrano Valley’s Neila Fritts.
Six section qualifiers advanced to the quarterfinals. Joining the quartet of aforementioned semifinal qualifiers were Brawley’s Delaire Juarez (116) and Valley Center’s Kyrra Young (143).
Rocha recorded a 4-2 decision over Canyon Springs’ Janiah Carr while Olympian’s Leal pinned Alisal’s Illana Serrano in 2:45.
Of the four South County qualifiers, only Leal, High Tech High’s Sophia Fernando (101) and Montgomery’s Evelynn Coronado (235) advanced past the Round of 32 in the championship bracket.
Leal won by pins in both the Round of 32 (2:54 over River Valley’s Talia Katzenberger) and Round of 16 (4:25 over Downey’s Abby Delbadil) to keep advancing toward a medal while Fernando recorded a 48-second fall over Escalon’s Isabella Alcala in the Round of 32 before being pinned in 2:43 by James Logan’s Marisol Rodriguez in the Round of 16.
Coronado defeated Jesse Bethel’s Brendalyn Cunningham in the Round of 32 before being pinned by Capistrano Valley’s Neila Fritts, the eventual champion, in 1:52 in the Round of 16.
Olympian’s Alina Solis (137) lost by a 2:35 pin to Ripon’s Riley Rangel in the Round of 32.
Leal has now recorded the highest place-finish at the state tournament ever by an Olympian wrestler and joins only Yessenia DeGuire as state medalists from the school.
“Angie did amazing at the state tournament by reaching the semifinals to go up against the No. 1-seeded wrestler,” Olympian coach Jay Fabunan said. “She gave it all she had and lost by a small margin.
“We are so proud of Angie; she was a champion for four tournaments and a runner-up in two of those. She earned so many accolades during her career as a wrestler at Olympian and we hope that her success will inspire her teammates to continue to strive and make the Olympian girls wrestling program one of the best in the section and the state.
“As her coach, I will miss her, she always brought great energy to the room and she always made her teammates better. We always could rely on Angie and we wish her only the best as she embarks on her post wrestling career after high school. Thank you, Angie for being the best.”
Marina won its first state girls title by scoring 92.5 points ahead of runner-up Gilroy (68 points).
Gilroy senior Jennifer Soto (126 pounds) became only the sixth wrestler in the 10-year history of the girls tournament to win three state titles. Additionally, Montclair junior Jo Forman (143 pounds) claimed her second state title.
