High school wrestling in the South Bay isn’t dead. Far from it. The Bonita Vista Barons proved that by capturing the team title at last Saturday’s San Diego Section Division II championship tournament.
The CIF team title is the first for the Bonita Vista program. The Barons become the first team east of Interstate 805 in Chula Vista to win a division championship and just the second team in the Sweetwater Union High School District the last 30 years to accomplish the feat.
Hilltop won the Division II team title in 2006.
The Barons jump-started postseason competition by claiming the team title at the Metro Conference championship tournament Feb. 8 at Eastlake High School. Bonita Vista won the team title with a 219-180.5 bulge over runner-up Olympian after finishing the regular season as Metro-Mesa League dual champions for the second consecutive year.
The Barons had three wrestlers win individual gold medals at the conference tournament and two do the same at the division final.
Individual conference champions include Josue Garcia (128 pounds), Ivan Hernandez (134 pounds) and Matthew Molina (146 pounds). Edwin Flores (120 pounds) and Garcia captured the gold medals at this year’s CIF tournament.
Garcia and Hernandez were repeat Metro individual champions.
“We’re a little more experienced than last year, though we’re still pretty young,” BVHS head coach Joe Marcotte said. “We’ve wrestled some pretty good teams.”
The Barons won a tight duel with Valhalla, edging the Norsemen by 7.5 points, to make history last Saturday at Orange Glen High School. Bonita Vista racked up 237.5 team points to 230 points for Valhalla, a program long steeped in tradition.
Mt. Carmel finished in third place in the team standings with 222 points while Scripps Ranch was fourth with 167.5 points.
Hilltop, San Ysidro and Chula Vista competed alongside the Barons at the Division II tournament. Hilltop finished seventh with 120.5 points while San Ysidro was 14th with 57.5 points. Chula Vista finished 19th with 18.5 points.
San Ysidro finished fourth at the preceding Metro tournament while Hilltop was fifth.
Teams will now gear up for this weekend’s San Diego Masters state-qualifying tournament at Christian High School in El Cajon. Both gender fields will be represented on the mat. The top three girls place-finishers advance to the state tournament Feb. 27-March 1 in Bakersfield while the top four boys in each weight class do so.
The Masters field is comprised of qualifiers from the three girls divisional tournaments and the four boys divisional tourneys.
The top four placers in each weight class at the three girls divisionals qualified to compete at Masters for a gender field of 12 wrestlers in each weight class.
The top eight place-winners in each weight class at the Division I boys tournament qualified for this weekend’s section finals while the top six place-finishers in each weight classes at both the Division II and Division III tournaments advanced. The top four place-winners in each weight class at the Division IV tournament advanced to compete one more week.
Olympian High School hosted the Division I tournament with 19 teams while Mar Vista High School hosted the Division IV tournament with 23 teams. Ramona High School hosted the Division III tournament also with 19 teams.
Parade of champions
Bonita Vista advanced four wrestlers to the championship round. Flores defeated Scripps Ranch’s Kai Duckworth by a 13-2 major decision while Garcia out-pointed Central Union’s Daniel Guerra by a 3-1 score.
Recording runner-up finishes were Maximus Yepis (106 pounds) and Nathan Banaszek (138 pounds).
Also earning trips to the award stand for the Barons were Hernandez (third place, 132 pounds), Madden Poderick (third place, 157 pounds), Conlon Merton (third place, 165 pounds), Jad Keddo (third place, 215 pounds), Julian Valdivia (fourth place, 150 pounds), Estevan Flores (fifth place, 113 pounds) and Molina (fifth place, 144 pounds).
Bonita Vista qualified 11 wrestlers overall for Masters.
Hilltop’s place-winners included Ricardo De la Torre (second place, 165 pounds), Cole Rivera (third place, 106 pounds), Michael Maddy (third place, 285 pounds), Lukas Mendez (fourth place, 175 pounds), Erik Nealson (fourth place, 215 pounds) and Isaac Medrano (sixth place, 150 pounds).
San Ysidro’s place-winners included Frank Zambada (fourth place, 132 pounds), Anthony Saavedra (fourth place, 285 pounds) and Ivan Quintero (sixth place, 175 pounds).
Chula Vista’s place-winners included Jamez Sanchez (sixth place, 120 pounds) and Gabriel Ramirez (eighth place, 165 pounds).
Overall, the Metro Conference finished with three divisional weight class champions. Besides the duo from Bonita Vista, Castle Park’s David Martinez won his 138-pound weight at the Division IV tournament in Imperial Beach.
Martinez, the outstanding lower weight wrestler at the Metro tournament, pinned Christian’s William Hypes in 1:23.
CP teammate Emilio Surposa-Buendia placed runner-up in his 165-pound class. He joined Mar Vista’s Ryder Bareng (106 pounds) as the conference’s only other silver medalists across the weekend.
Southern exposure
Olympian, Eastlake, Otay Ranch and Sweetwater competed in the Division I tournament otherwise dominated by Poway (first place, 425.5 points) and Granite Hills (319.5 points). Olympian was fifth with 145 points while Eastlake was ninth with 77.5 points. Otay Ranch finished 14th in the field with 39 points while Sweetwater was 17th with 20.5 points.
No Metro grappler placed higher than third in the exceptionally talented field.
Olympian’s place-winners included Nicholas Tuato’o (third place, 106 pounds), Andres Gonzalez (fifth place, 157 pounds), Roman Jimenez (sixth place, 132 pounds), Aiden Diaz (sixth place, 190 pounds), Aiden Flores (sixth place, 215 pounds), Ian Ramos (seventh place, 138 pounds), Tamim Bader (seventh place, 285 pounds), Michael Tuato’o (eighth place, 150 pounds), Cristian Contreras (ninth place, 175 pounds), William Costa (ninth place, 113 pounds) and Noah Soria (ninth place, 144 pounds).
Eastlake’s place-winners included Brandon Kamali (fourth place, 150 pounds), Joaquin Jacobo (sixth place, 113 pounds), Leo Pedregal (sixth place, 157 pounds), Abiel Rangel (eighth place, 106 pounds), Hunter Haynes (eighth place, 132 pounds), Joshua Peterson (eighth place, 175 pounds), Diego De La Vega (eighth place, 215 pounds), Joaquin Hermosura (10th place, 120 pounds), Patrick Parker (12th place, 138 pounds) and Evann Franco (12th place, 144 pounds).
Otay Ranch’s place-winners also included Diego Camacho (third place, 215 pounds) Anthony Hernandez (sixth place, 106 pounds), Porfirio Nino (seventh place, 175 pounds), Jaidon Castillo (10th place, 165 pounds), Sean Ramirez (12th place, 126 pounds) and Isaiah Sary (12th place, 285 pounds).
Sweetwater’s place-winners included Armando Nunez (seventh place, 113 pounds), Angel Gutierrez (12th place, 120 pounds), Joshua Panuco (12th place, 144 pounds) and Roy Inga (12th place, 150 pounds).
Montgomery (10th place, 58.5 points) and Southwest 16th place, 43 points) represented the Metro Conference at the Division III tournament won by Brawley (335 points) over runner-up La Costa Canyon (250 points).
Montgomery’s place-finishers included Alan Jean (fifth place, 150 pounds), Luis Mejia (fifth place, 285 pounds), Caleb Banda (sixth place, 126 pounds), Christian Ceballos (seventh place, 113 pounds), Ivan Venegas (seventh place, 190 pounds), Leonardo Garcia (eighth place, 165 pounds) and Andrew Tapia (eighth place, 175 pounds).
Southwest’s place-winners included Uziel Diaz (sixth place, 113 pounds), Alex Kibodeaux-Campos (sixth place, 157 pounds) and Daniel Kibodeaux-Campos (sixth place, 175 pounds).
Making waves
Mar Vista, Castle Park and Mater Dei Catholic competed at the Division IV tournament. Mar Vista was the highest placing team among the trio in fifth place with 99.5 points while Castle park was eighth with 81 points. Mater Dei Catholic was 22nd with 19 points.
Mar Vista’s place-winners also included Gabriel Ceballos (third place, 113 pounds), Brakyn Ellis (fourth place, 120 pounds), Maximus Fuentes (fourth place, 126 pounds), Santiago Campos (fifth place, 215 pounds) and Aaron Marcial (sixth place, 150 pounds).
Castle Park’s place-winners also included Andre Valle (fifth place, 190 pounds) and Jose Luis Gutierrez (sixth place, 285 pounds).
CIF Finals Honor Roll
Gold Medalists
•Edwin Flores (Bonita Vista), 120 pounds, Division II
•Josue Garcia (Bonita Vista), 126 pounds, Division II
•David Martinez (Castle Park), 132 pounds, Division IV
Silver Medalists
•Maximum Yepis (Bonita Vista), 106 pounds, Division II
•Nathan Banaszek (Bonita Vista), 138 pounds, Division II
•Ricardo De La Torre (Hilltop), 165 pounds, Division II
•Ryder Bareng (Mar Vista), 106 pounds, Division IV
•Emilio Surposa-Buenda (Castle Park), 165 pounds, Division IV
Bronze Medalists
•Nicholas Tuato’o (Olympian), 106 pounds, Division I
•Diego Camacho (Otay Ranch), 215 pounds, Division I
•Cole Rivera (Hilltop), 106 pounds, Division II
•Madden Poderick (Bonita Vista), 157 pounds, Division II
•Conlon Merton (Bonita Vista), 165 pounds, Division II
•Jad Keddo (Bonita Vista), 215 pounds, Division II
•Michael Maddy (Hilltop), 287 pounds, Division II
•Gabriel Ceballos (Mar Vista), 113 pounds, Division IV
