Girls wrestlng within the San Diego Section continues to grow. That progress was more than evident at last Saturday’s section championship tournament at Rancho Buena Vista High School when 132 young women registered to compete. That number is up from the approximately 90 girls who participated in last year’s CIF finals.
The increase in participation has, in the process, also boosted the quality of competition. That was made evident in the collective powerhouse performance by Metro Conference grapplers at last weekend’s tournament.
Overall, seven Metro Conference girl wrestlers qualified for this year’s state championship meet, and 16 South County girl wrestlers earned medals.
Those are watershed numbers.
Equally noteworthy, three Metro Conference teams finished among the top 10 teams at the section finals. Eastlake, braced by three state qualifiers and five medalists, finished in third place behind team champion Rancho Buena Vista and runner-up Steele Canyon. Hilltop placed seventh, followed by San Ysidro in eighth place.
“Girls wrestling has grown tremendously,” Eastlake coach Stephanie Matsumoto explained. “There were only two girls on the Eastlake team two years ago. Last year, we started with 10 and, due to injuries, we ended with five competing at CIF.
“This year, we started with 15 girls at duplicate weights, and took eight to CIF.
“The quality of competition here is getting better and better. I have had more interest not only at Eastlake, but also in other schools.”
Moving up
The section championship tournament serves as a qualifier for this year’s state championship meet Feb. 27-28 in Visalia.
The top two place-finishers in each of 14 weight classes at the section finals qualified to compete at the state tournament. The top four place-finishers in the section championship meet earned medals.
Five of eight Eastlake wrestlers earned individual medals at last weekend’s section tournament. The young Titan program displayed its growing prowess on the mat by qualifying three girls for the state championship meet.
The Titans’ three state qualifiers included Elizabeth Hafen (123 pounds), Grace Williams (128 pounds) and Aliyah McGuire (139 pounds).
The Titans’ other medal-winners included Loraine Tejano, who placed third in her 145-pound weight class, and Isabella Hook, who placed fourth in her 118-pound weight class.
McGuire, Tejano and Williams are all returning wrestlers.
Hafen pinned Westview’s Jaelin Rose Quinto in 2:59 to secure second place in her weight class while Williams recorded a 14-7 decision over Oceanside’s Yulissa Colon to punch her ticket to this year’s state meet.
McGuire pinned Westview’s Claire Bjork in 2:26 to place second in her weight class.
Tejano captured third place with a 6-1 decision over Olympian’s Amira Temple while Hook lost by a 2:34 fall to Valhalla’s Kacey Rosenthal to place fourth.
“The girls wrestled great and stepped it up when they needed to,” Matsumoto explained.
“I have found the girls to be determined in this sport. We have a young team with only three seniors.”
Tough enough
Hilltop had two state qualifiers: Alysia Baker (first at 152 pounds) and Jasmine Plasencia (second at 103 pounds).
San Ysidro had one state qualifier: Jazmin Quintanilla (second at 152 pounds).
Mar Vista had one state qualifier: Elycia Edwards (172 pounds).
Baker repeated as a section champion by pinning San Ysidro’s Quintanilla in 1:44.
Edwards captured second place with a 1:21 pin of Central Union’s Gissel Quiroz Salazar.
Chula Vista’s Jessy Romero (113) earned a third-place medal. She out-pointed Kearny’s Cali Massey by a score of 2-1.
Fourth-place medalists also included San Ysidro’s Isabel Flores (103), Chula Vista’s Jennifer Mencias (108), Sweetwater’s Elsa Davalos (128), San Ysidro’s Sally Garcia (162), Mar Vista’s Vanessa White (191) and Hilltop’s Carrie Hayes (237).
With an increase in participation numbers in the San Diego region, success at the state level should follow.
Matsumoto noted that the top competition in California is currently concentrated in the Orange County and Covina areas.
“The state brackets are as large as the boys,” Matsumoto said. “Unfortunately, only two girls qualify from the San Diego Section.”
But, if the results of last weekend’s section finals are any indicator, that could change in the near future.
