The Olympian High School wrestling team has changed head coaches this season but nothing really has changed since the team’s reins remain within the Eagles family.
Jordan Griffin assumes the role as head coach from his father Myron, who has helped Olympian scale the heights of the Metro Conference, as well as the San Diego Section, in recent years.
“I’ve been helping my dad coach since the beginning,” said the new OHS head coach, a 2013 graduate of Hilltop High School. “The kids know me. It’s an easy transition. It’s the same coaching staff.”
The Eagles, three-time defending Metro Conference tournament champions, have recorded back-to-back second-place team finishes at the Division I championship tournament.
Olympian looks to be on track again this season after posting a sixth-place team finish at last weekend’s 49th annual El Cajon Invitational at San Ysidro High School. The Eagles finished with 143.5 points to top all South County — and East County teams, for that matter — at the 50-team event.
Olympian finished the two-day tournament with seven medalists and one finalist.
Senior Mico Gonzalez finished second in his 152-pound weight class. Other medalists included Ralph Magsino (fifth, 126), Alejandro Llarena (fifth, 160), Zachary Ramos (sixth, 113), Ryan Magsino (sixth, 132), Brandon Dequito (eighth, 120) and John Johnson (eighth, 170)
“We’re hoping to make another run at CIF this year — we were second last year,” the new Eagles head coach said. “We want to get a few kids to state like Mico and other placers today.”
Gonzalez, seeded sixth, upset both the second- and third-seeded wrestlers in his weight class to advance to the championship round. The Olympian mat man pinned his first two opponents before recording a 15-10 win over third-seeded Richard Garcia of Holtville in the quarterfinals. Gonzalez captured an 8-4 decision over second-seeded Antonio Navarro of Vista in the semifinals.
Gonzalez’s run ended in the finals, however, with a 9-1 loss by major decision to top-seeded Tyler Badgett of Rancho Bernardo, a second-place finisher at last year’s state championship tournament.
Gonzalez finished 4-1 over the two days of wrestling at SYHS.
“He has a motor and is driven,” Jordan Griffin said in regard to Gonzalez, who won last season’s 140-pound conference gold medal. “He never gives up. He goes to the end. He’s very persistent.”
Among the Eagles’ other medalists, Ramos advanced to the semifinals on the strength of three wins, including two by fall.
Bonita Vista finished 11th in the team standings with 91 points and three medalists: Isaac Lopez (third, 120), Michael Miller (fifth, 195) and Ricardo Castillo (sixth, 138).
Hilltop finished 23rd in the team standings with 63 points and three medalists: Christian Aguilera (fifth, 120), Dominic Gurule-Metzig (fifth, 138) and Carlo Arreloa (eighth, 106).
Eastlake finished 24th in the team standings with 59.5 points and one medalist: Jesus Plasencia (fourth, 113).
San Ysidro finished 25th in the team standings with 53 points and two medalists: Israel Ramirez (fourth, 126) and Rahman Ferguson (sixth, 120).
Chula Vista finished 37th in the team standings with 30 points while Mater Dei Catholic finished 42nd with 21 points. Sweetwater finished 49th with 12 points while Southwest finished 50th with six points.
Mater Dei Catholic’s Javier Salas finished eighth in his 132-pound weight class.
Ramirez received the top seed in his weight class and advanced to the semifinals braced by two pins and a 13-2 major decision. However, he dropped a 6-2 decision to Vista’s Matthew Nelson, seeded fourth.
Ramirez pinned Olympian’s Ralph Magsino in 2:52 in the consolation semifinals but lost by a 2:50 fall to Moses Lake’s Ryan Grubb in the bronze medal match.
Nelson would go on to win the weight class title with a 5-4 win over Rancho Bernardo’s Brayden Concepcion in the finals.
Mat attack
Rancho Bernardo, with 12 medalists in the 14 weight classes, won the team title with 284 points, followed by runner-up Moses Lake from Washington with 231.5 points. Bakersfield Frontier (Central Section) finished third with 223.5 points while Hesperia Sultana (Southern Section) was fourth with 198.5 points.
Imperial (fifth, 191.5 points), Olympian (sixth, 143.5 points), Mt. Carmel (seventh, 142.5 points), Cienega from Vail, Ariz. (eighth, 121.5 points), Vista (ninth, 113.5 points) and Fallbrook (10th, 92 points) rounded out the top 10 team finishers.
Rancho Bernardo advanced five wrestlers to this year’s ECI finals, winning three individual weight class titles.
Moses Lake, with nine medalists, had two finalists and one weight class champion.
Frontier, with eight medalists, had six finalists and three individual champions.
Sultana, with eight medalists, matched Imperial (five medalists) with two individual champions.
Sultana senior 138-pounder Ryan Spangler, ranked third in the state, earned the lower weight MVP award with four pins and a 5-0 record. He defeated Frontier senior Jose Landin, ranked 13th in the state, by a 7-2 decision in the final.
Rancho Bernardo junior 182-pounder Javen Jovero, ranked second in the state, captured the outstanding upper weight award with four pins and a major decision. He pinned Mt. Carmel senior Nick Burwell in 59 seconds in the championship round.
Pete Salmu received the Most Outstanding Wrestling Officials award at this year’s ECI. The award was presented prior to the finals. “It took me by surprise,” said Salmu, who is part owner of Santa Fe Meats in Chula Vista.
Eastern exposure
East County schools were well represented with wrestlers from Granite Hills, Valhalla, Helix, Steele Canyon, Santana, West Hills, Monte Vista and Mountain Empire high schools competing.
Granite Hills finished 15th in the team standings with 80 points to lead Grossmont Conference schools while tournament host Valhalla finished 18th with 76.5 points. Helix finished 19th with 75 points while Steele Canyon was 21st with 74 points.
Santana finished 26th with 51 points while West Hills finished 28th with 50 points; Monte Vista finished 35th with 33 points while Mountain Empire finished 41st with 22 points.
Two East County wrestlers made the championship round. Steele Canyon sophomore Logan Robinson finished second in his 106-pound weight class while Valhalla senior Matthew Jordan finished second at 120 pounds.
Robinson dropped a highly competitive match to Imperial junior Nathan Galbiso by a 10-7 decision. The score was tied 7-7 before the Tiger wrestlers scored the decisive points late in the match to remain undefeated on the season (10-0).
Robinson, seeded third, finished the two-day tournament with a 3-1 record, with all his wins coming by pins, including two first-period falls. He pinned second-seeded Dominic Pacheco of St. Augustine in 2:33 in the semifinals.
“I just want to keep working hard, each day try my best whether it’s on the mat or off the mat,” Robinson said. “I was actually hoping to win this tournament and get the most valuable wrestler award but I’m pretty happy. I beat some good kids. I lost a close match to a good kid.”
Steele Canyon finished the tournament with two medalists as returning state meet qualifier Ezra Cardenas finished third in his 138-pound weight class. Cardenas finished 5-1, with his lone loss to Sultana senior Ryan Spangler, ranked third in the state.
Cardenas, seeded fourth, won his opening three matches. Following a loss by a 1:27 pin to top-seeded Spangler in the semifinals, Cardenas wrestled back with two more victories to place third in the weight class.
Cardenas defeated Hilltop’s Dominic Gurule-Metzig, the champion at the preceding weekend’s Mira Mesa Marauder Invitational, by a 7-1 decision in the consolation semifinals.
Cardenas captured a 9-3 decision from Cole Hickey from Cienega (Vail, Ariz.) to complete his tournament odyssey in the bronze medal match.
Spangler (6-0) earned the lower weight MVP award with four pins and a 5-0 record. He defeated Frontier senior Jose Landin (8-2), ranked 13th in the state, by a 7-2 decision in the championship round.
“It was a tough tournament,” Steele Canyon head coach Mark Gerardi said. “I’m pleased with how our guys did. We didn’t bring a full team, had a couple of placers. They wrestled well
“Logan wrestled fantastic and so did Ezra, whose only loss was to the champion.
“We’re a young team; I think we have a couple guys who are contenders to qualify for state.”
Jordan won his opening four matches, including three by pin, to reach the championship round before dropping a 7-1 decision to Frontier senior Josh Acala in the finals.
Jordan, who previously finished first in his weight class at the Mira Mesa Marauder Invitational on Dec. 7, pinned San Ysidro’s Rahman Ferguson in the semifinals.
Valhalla finished the tournament with three medalists as Guadalupe Garcia finished fourth at 160 pounds and Michael Carmona finished eighth at 195 pounds.
Steele Canyon won the Grossmont Hills League dual meet championship two years ago. Granite Hills and West Hills shared last year’s title.
Second-year Valhalla head coach Jason Bedsole believes his team is a contender this season after placing 3.5 points behind Granite Hills at last weekend’s ECI tournament.
“We have a mix of seniors and underclassmen – it’s going to be interesting,” said Bedsole, who graduated from Valhalla in 1995 before going on to wrestle at Palomar College and Fresno State. “We have a good blend. It’s building.
“We had three medalists at this tournament this year; we had no medalists last year.”
Valhalla hosts Granite Hills Jan. 9 in what is shaping up to be one of the highlights of the season.
Granite Hills recorded two medalists: Jeremiah Satberry (sixth, 182 pounds) and Skyler Hillberg (seventh, 170 pounds).
Satberry won his opening four matches, including three by pin, to reach the semifinals. After dropping an 11-7 decision to Mt. Carmel’s Nick Burwell, Satberry took sixth place by a medical forfeit.
Hillberg, who had two pins in the tournament, defeated Olympian’s John Johnson by a 3-1 decision to place seventh.
Helix, which qualified five wrestlers for the second day of competition, recorded two medalists: Lex Lo (fourth, 170) and Isaiah Graves (seventh, 120).
Lo finished 4-2 in his weight bracket with four pins. He advanced to the semifinals on the strength of three consecutive pins, including two in the first period, before dropping a match by a 1:27 pin to Maranatha Chrisitan’s Noah Rupp, the eventual runer-up.
Lo bounced back with a 3:21 pin of Cienga’s Ritchie McCormack in the consolation semifinals to reach the third-place match, which he dropped by a 17-1 technical fall to Sultana’s Nathan Aguiniga.
Graves also posted a 4-2 record at this year’s ECI, scoring one pin, one major decision and one technical fall. He defeated Olympian’s Brandon Dequito, 18-3, to place seventh.
Helix moves to the Grossmont Valley League for dual meet competition this season, joining Monte Vista, Mount Miguel, El Cajon Valley, Santana and El Capitan in what looks like to be a very competitive field.
“We have a mix of veterans who will lead the team and some freshmen who will make us competitive for the league title,” Helix coach Adam Krzywicki said.
In rounding out East County place-finishers, West Hills’s Mathais Brooks finished eighth at 152 pounds while Mountain Empire’s Dillynn McMillan finished eighth in his 285-pound heavyweight division.
Brooks won three consecutive matches in the single-elimination wrestle-backs to reach the medal rounds.
McMillan won four matches over the two days, recording three pins. His three losses came to the first-, fourth- and seventh-place medal-winners.
McMillan lost by a 4:22 pin in his final match to San Marcos’s Ricky Johnson.
PARADE OF CHAMPIONS
Championship Matches
106: Naythan Gabliso (Imperial) won by 10-7 decision over Logan Robinson (Steele Canyon)
113: Jonathan Tanguma (Moses Lake) won by injury default over Nikko Beato (Rancho Bernardo)
120: Josh Acala (Frontier) won by 7-1 decision over Matthew Jordan (Valhalla)
126: Matthew Nelson (Vista) won by 5-4 decision over Brayden Concepcion (Ranch Bernardo)
132: Jose Cisneros (Sultana) won by 7-5 decision over Jay Appleton (Frontier)
138: Ryan Spangler (Sultana) won by 7-2 decision over Jose Landin (Frontier)
145: Jaden Le (Rancho Bernardo) won by 7-0 decision over Garrett Fletcher (Frontier)
152: Tyler Badgett (Rancho Bernardo) won by 9-1 major decision over Mico Gonzalez (Olympian)
160: Paul Ortiz (Imperial) won by 12-2 major decision over Carlo Castangnaro (Cienega)
170: Christian Landin (Frontier) won by 9-1 major decision over Noah Rupp (Maranatha Christian)
182: Javen Jovero (Rancho Bernardo) won by 0:59 fall over Nick Burwell (Mt. Carmel)
195: Shane Hansen (Oceanside) won by 18-5 major decision over Nicholas Pira (Guajome Park Academy)
220: Andrew Castillo (Central Union) won by 3:24 fall over Andrew Kile (Moses Lake)
285: Jake Andrews (Frontier) won by 1:02 fall over Javier Montoya (Fallbrook)
Girls wrestling
Hilltop captures second place at Lady Cheiftain Invitational
Hilltop captured second place in the team standings at last Saturday’s Lady Chieftain Invitational tournament at Clairemont High School.
The top four place-finishers earned medals. Hilltop had had three medalists: Nahdia Barrientos (first at 131 pounds), Valerie Gurule-Metzig (third at 111l pounds) and Kayla Urrea (fourth at 189 pounds).
Barrientos received the outstanding middle weight award.
Clairemont won the team title with 133 points, followed by Hilltop with 102 points. Valley Center finished third with 99 points, followed by Eastlake in fourth place with 92 points. Olympian finished in fifth place with 86 points, followed by Montgomery with 85 points in sixth place.
Ramona (seventh, 83.5 points), Imperial (eighth, 80.5 points), Mar Vista (ninth, 75 points), Orange Glen (tied 10th, 66 points), San Pasqual (tied 10th, 66 points), Steele Canyon (tie 11th, 66 points) and Calexico (13th, 53 points) rounded out the top teams.
Castle Park’s Jasmine Rodriguez (117), Ayianna Fernandez (151) and Milagros Aguilar (171) captured first place finishes in their respective weight classes at the Mount Miguel tournament on Nov. 16.
Fernandez finished second in her weight class at the Lady Eagle Invitational Dec. 7 at Olympian High School while Rodriguez was third and Aguilar was fourth.
