Four South County mat women earned the right to compete in next weekend’s state championship tournament in Bakersfield after earning top three place-finishes at last Friday’s San Diego Section Masters state-qualifying tournament at Alliant University.
The top four place-finishers from both the preceding Division I and Division II championship tournaments competed at the Masters event to complete a field that included eight wrestlers in each of 14 weight classes. The top four place-winners received medals; the top three place punched their ticket to advance to the state meet.
This year’s South County court of royalty (state qualifiers) included High Tech High Chula Vista’s Sophia Fernando (second place, 103 pounds), Olympian High School’s Alina Solis (second place, 139 pounds) and Angelina Leal (second place, 237 pounds) and Montgomery High School’s Evelynn Coronado (third place, 237 pounds).
Mat maids
Solis and Leal both won Division I individual championships the preceding week. Both are reigning Metro Conference champions.
Coronado finished runner-up at the Division II finals and second to Leal at the conference championship meet.
Fernando won her opening two matches by pins – 1:05 against Steele Canyon’s Bella Sevillano in the quarterfinals and Mira Mesa’s Emma DeGraziano in 1:43 in the semifinals. However, the Lady Bruin ran up against Brawley’s Jaylee Cazares in the championship round, losing by a 14-2 major decision to place runner-up in the weight class.
Solis won a pair of gritty high-stakes matches to face off her Masters state odyssey – edging Holtville’s Kate Grizzle in sudden-victory overtime in the quarterfinals and shading Mira Mesa’s Trinity Lagandaon in the ultimate tie-breaker in the semifinals.
The Lady Eagle advanced to the championship round against Brawley’s Savannah Gomez but lost by a 51-second fall.
Leal, who is accustomed to winning on the mat while earning the No. 2 state ranking midway through the season, pinned Mount Miguel’s Serenaety Terry in 43 seconds to make a statement in her opening match before defeating conference rival Coronado in 2:48 in the semifinals.
The Lady Eagle earned a highly anticipated rematch against El Cajon Valley’s Valeria Rocha, the Division II champion, in a battle of reigning CIF champions. Rocha won by a narrow 5-4 decision to prevent the Olympian mat woman from becoming a Masters champion.
Coronado finished 3-1, winning her final two matches in clutch fashion to pin her way to the state meet. The Lady Aztec pinned Hoover’s Hannah Ramirez in 2:35 to open the tournament but ran into Leal in her next match, finishing on the wrong end of a fall.
Coronado rebounded mightily with pins of 1:57 against Brawley’s Sevyn Diaz in the consolation semifinals and 1:25 against Steele Canyon’s Kennedi Jones for third place.
Two other South County mat women were in contention for state-qualifying berths before settling for fourth-place finishes: Bonita Vista’s Kanoe Lopez-Griggs (118 pounds) and Hilltop’s Isabelle Meza (139 pounds).
Lopez-Griggs finished 2-2 with two pins while being pinned twice in a reversal of fortune. She opened the tourney by pinning Point Loma’s Eve Norvan in 2:46 but lost her next match by a 1:45 pin to Mira Mesa’s Helena Insko. The Lady Baron rebounded by pinning Olympian’s Cheyenne Sandoval in 2:06 in the consolation semifinals but lost by a 4:57 fall against Grossmont’s Chloe Tolentino in the third-place match.
Meza, a third-place finisher at the preceding Division II finals, also finished 2-2 at last Friday’s Masters. The Lady Lancer captured an injury default win in her first match against Steele Canyon’s Elizabeth LeNoir before losing by medical forfeit against Gomez. Meza pinned Santana’s Amber Spencer in 4:29 in the consolation semifinals but lost 5-4 to Lagandaon for the final state-qualifying berth in the bronze medal match.
Olympian, this year’s Division I team champion, brought six wrestlers to the Masters tournament, placing sixth as a team.
“Alina had exciting matches going into the finals, she won two matches both in overtime,” Olympian head coach Jay Fabunan said. “In her second match she had to go to a final period where she was successful in preventing Trinity Lagandaon of Mira Mesa from escaping giving her the win. In the finals, she faced nationally-ranked Savannah Gomez of Brawley and lost via pin.
“Angelina made it through handily into the finals where once again she faced El Cajon Valley’s Valeria Rocha and lost a tight match by decision of 5-4. Both of the girls will be vying to place high at the state tournament and could once again see each other there. They are now 2-2 in their last four meetings.”
An impressive total of 48 schools were represented at last Friday’s Masters tournament. Following the Lady Eagles in the team standings were Montgomery in 17th place, High Tech High Chula Vista in 18th place, Bonita Vista in 26th place, Hilltop in 28th place, San Ysidro in 35th place, Chula Vista in 37th place, Eastlake in 38th place, Mar Vista in 40th place and Mar Vista in 46th place.
Mira Mesa, the Division I runner-up a week earlier, won the team points battle over second place Brawley, the Division II champion, by a narrow three-point margin, 109-106.
The state championship tournament is scheduled Feb. 24-26 and will run simultaneously with the boys finals. The section Masters boys state-qualifying tournament is this weekend, Friday and Saturday, at Christian High School in El Cajon.
Metro Conference Boys Wrestling Championship
Feb. 4 at Mar Vista High School
Top teams
Points: 1. Eastlake 263.5; 2. Bonita Vista 127.5; 3. Hilltop 122; 4. Olympian 121.5; 5. Montgomery 114.5; 6. Otay Ranch 86; 7. San Ysidro 80.5; 8. Chula Vista 70; 9. Mater Dei Catholic 69; 10. Castle Park 43; 11. Sweetwater 28; 12. Mar Vista 19; 13. Southwest 6
108 Pounds
Championship: Joaquin Angulo pinned Samuel Costa (Olympian) 0:37
Third place: Arsalan Habibi (Eastlake) decisioned James Sanchez (Chula Vista) 5-0
115 Pounds
Championship: Carlo Arreola (Olympian) pinned Josue Garcia (Eastlake) 1:33
Third place: Nate Coldren (Otay Ranch) decisioned Noah Gallegos (Bonita Vista) 9-2
122 Pounds
Championship: Keith Moreno (Mater Dei Catholic) decisioned Justin Bernardo (Hilltop) 7-3
Third place: Alex King (Eastlake) decisioned Alyjah Wardrobe (Otay Ranch) 10-6
128 Pounds
Championship: Damien Martinez (Sweetwater) pinned Brandon Kamali (Mater Dei Catholic) 0:40
Third place: Wyatt Costa (Olympian) decisioned Mason Margetts (Bonita Vista) 3-0
134 Pounds
Championship: Isaac Lopez (Bonita Vista) pinned Sergio Porras (Hilltop) 5:55
Third place: Nathan Ramos (Olympian) pinned Jacob Gilbert (Mater Dei Catholic) 3:00
140 Pounds
Championship: Tomas Jacobo (Eastlake) won by 17-2 technical fall over Abram Jimenez (Otay Ranch)
Third place: Bradley Bell (Bonita Vista) won by 15-0 technical fall over Julian Martinez (Hilltop)
147 Pounds
Championship: Santiago Luna (San Ysidro) won by technical fall over Brayden Zingano (Eastlake) 19-4
Third place: Angelo Duschane Jr. (Otay Ranch) pinned Dylan Hartley (Mar Vista) 4:30
154 Pounds
Championship: David Mitrovich (Eastlake) pinned Orlando Martinez (Castle Park) 2:50
Third place: Darius Rhodes (Chula Vista) pinned Armando Olmos (Montgomery) 0:30
162 Pounds
Championship: Gabriel Duron (Eastlake) pinned Frankie Mendoza (Hilltop) 3:27
Third place: Isaac Romero (Bonita Vista) pinned John Reyna (Chula Vista) 2:05
172 Pounds
Championship: Orlando Amado (Eastlake) decisioned Armando Montalvo (Montgomery) 7-0
Third place: Carlos Mendez (Hilltop) decisioned Alex Aftahi (Bonita Vista) 4-2
184 Pounds
Championship: Richard Inzunza (Eastlake) pinned Angel Zuniga (Chula Vista) 1:52
Third place: Darius Eddington (Montgomery) decisioned Ulises Nava (Otay Ranch) 3-2
197 Pounds
Championship: Alex Martinez (Eastlake) pinned Julian Cervantes (San Ysidro) 5:33
Third place: Lucas Rodriguez (Bonita Vista) decisioned Frank Zhou (Mater Dei Catholic) 2-0
222 Pounds
Championship: Dawson Galvan (Eastlake) pinned Joel Maya (Montgomery) 1;45
Third place: Itzak Gonzalez (Olympian) pinned Aiden Garces (Hilltop) 5:56
287 Pounds
Championship: Christian Venegas (Montgomery) decisioned Sebastian Lopez-Rodriguez (Eastlake) 7-1
Third place: Jace Watson (Olympian) pinned Angel Martinez (San Ysidro) 3:00
