Girls wrestling continues to grow within the San Diego Section and the results are showing.
“We’re had a huge growth in talent,” said Steele Canyon coach Trevor Keifer, who serves as one of the chief advocates of girls wrestling in the section. “Teams have grown in size. Teams that were small in the past are now big. We’ve got a lot more quality coaches on board.
“The Grossmont Conference has pulled together with six to eight teams with at least eight to 10 weight classes filled. We’ve had enough girls to have our own conference tournament.”
The ladies from Steele captured both the Grossmont Hills League title and conference championship while Santana won the Grossmont Valley League title.
“The quality in San Diego overall is very good. At state, we could hit double digits in medals again. We had 13 last year.”
The top four girls place-winners received medals at last weekend’s San Diego Masters state-qualifying tournament at Christian High School in El Cajon while the top three place-finishers qualified to compete at this weekend’s state tournament in Bakersfield.
The Metro Conference advanced six wrestlers to medal matches, with three advancing to the state meet.
The Grossmont Conference produced seven medal-winners and four state qualifiers.
Olympian High School’s program continues to set new standards for the sport in South County. The five-time CIF divisional champion Lady Eagles nosed into a meteoric second-place finish at Masters, edging desert power Brawley by one-half point. Olympian netted three state qualifiers: Vania Victoria (130 pounds), Natalia Rhighellis (155 pounds) and Eisa Najera (235 pounds).
The Lady Eagles qualified six matsers for the medal rounds.
“We had about half our team place in San Diego,” OHS head coach Jesse Perez said. “I think all of our girls worked hard throughout the season to get to this point — to get to state.”
Girl power
Righellis, the Metro Conference tournament’s outstanding upper weight wrestler and the Division I section champion, received the top seed at Masters. After an opening-round bye, she rattled off three consecutive pins to capture her weight class.
The Lady Eagle standout pinned Calexico’s Bania Piceno in 2:32, then flattened Poway’s Edna Rodriguez in 3:57. Righellis (30-5) pinned Ramona’s Giuliaha Pekelder in a quick 1:14 to seize the gold medal to make a second appearance at the state meet.
Najera, another top seed, also went 3-0 on the mat with a 2:46 pin against Granite Hills’ Liliana Porfirio, in the quarterfinals a 2-1 decision over Southwest El Centro’s Patricia Rivera-Juarez in the semifinals and a 3:14 pin against Mira Mesa’s Angel Hill (seeded third) in the championship round to improve to 30-4.
Victoria (28-5) took the backdoor route to the state meet by engineering a third-place finish through the consolation bracket. She pinned Pt. Loma’s Zisa Willink in 25 seconds in her first match but was grounded by a 16-13 setback to San Marcos’ Jaala Degannes in the next round.
Victoria needed two more wins to punch her ticket to Bakersfield and she did just that with a 15-9 decision over Ramona’s Hannah Gonzales and a 2:36 fall against Poway’s Sophia Fodera in the bronze medal match.
Three other Lady Eagles found themselves in pivotal third-place matches, with the winner advancing to the state meet. San Marcos’ Addison Taufa defeated Olympian’s Keagan Wyn Alatiw in an 8-6 tiebreaker match at 135 pounds while Mira Mesa’s Isabel Manalansan edged Olympian’s Madelyn Hogue by a 9-5 decision at 145 pounds. Ramona’s Tairen Lee pinned Oympian’s Sasha Harper in 1:33 to claim the final state-qualifying berth at 190 pounds.
There were four medalists in the Metro boys field: Olympian’s Nicholas Tuato’o (fifth place, 106 pounds), Bonita Vista’s Josue Garcia (fifth place, 126 pounds), Eastlake’s Leo Pedregal (fifth place, 157 pounds) and Bonita Vista’s Edwin Flores (sixth place, 120 pounds).
Metro/Division II champion Bonita Vista placed 10th in the team standings.
San Diego Masters Wrestling Championships
Feb. 21-22 at Christian High School, El Cajon
BOYS TEAMS
Note: Top four place-finishers qualify for state meet
106 Pounds
Championship: Julius Villamil (Poway) tech fall Shane Iito (La Costa Canyon) 20-5
Third place: Jacob Cava (Torrey Pines) pinned Fernando Rivera (Holtville) 0:19
Fifth place: Nicholas Tuato’o defeated Jayden Montoya (Escondido) by medical forfeit
113 Pounds
Championship: Rene Cordero (Poway) dec. Damian Arreola (Granite Hills) 10-8
Third place: Jason Lin (La Costa Canyon) pinned Nikolas Ortiz (Brawley) 3:26
Fifth place: Anthony Strahm (Holtville) dec. Gabriel Vargas (Ramona) 3-0
120 Pounds
Championship: Edwin Sierra (Poway) tech fall Ricardo Ortiz (Brawley) 17-1
Third place: Emilio Escobar (Granite Hills) dec. Carter Bolt (Torrey Pines) 7-0
Fifth place: Finn Janetzke (Mt. Carmel) dec. Edwin Flores (Bonita Vista) 10-7
126 Pounds
Championship: Robert Jones (Poway) tech fall Justin Torres (Brawley) 21-5
Third place: Uriah Hawkins (Granite Hills) dec. Cade Johnston (Tri-City Christian) 13-11
Fifth place: Josue Garcia (Bonita Vista) dec. Daniel Guerra (Central Union) 7-6
132 Pounds
Championship: Billy Townson (Poway) tech fall Gabriel Pacheco (Central Union) 21-4
Third place: Diego Arias (Brawley) dec. Gavin Mitchell (Madison) 11-4
Fifth place: Damian Jones (Granite Hills) major dec. Ivan Rivers (Valhalla) 11-3
138 Pounds
Championship: Ames-Michael Hoevker (Granite Hills) dec. Matthew Orbeta (Poway) 11-7
Third place: Evan Velez (Brawley) tech fall Ricarte Noah Guro (Mira Mesa) 16-0
Fifth place: Tyoh Tran (Mt. Carmel) pinned Braeden Steele (St. Augustine) 2:41
144 Pounds
Championship: Arseni Kikiniou (Poway) pinned Laronz Fraser (Granite Hills) 2:46
Third place: Jake Sakofsky (Torrey Pines) defeated Dion Johnston (Holtville) by medical forfeit
Fifth place: Michael Cantor (University City) pinned Alexander Resico (Grossmont) 2:07
150 Pounds
Championship: Carlos Valdiviezo (Poway) dec. Aiden Chur (Granite Hills) 10-4
Third place: Chris Villegas (Rancho Bernardo) dec. Sam Weinberg (La Costa Canyon) 3-0
Fifth place: Jack Hamilton (Scripps Ranch) pinned Liam Gonzalez (Ramona) 2:05
157 Pounds
Championship: Bailey Holman (Poway) tech fall Ryan Carroll (Granite Hills) 16-1
Third place: Daryn Leon (Brawley) major dec. Dyllan Irmen (Rancho Bernardo) 14-4
Fifth place: Leo Pedregal (Eastlake) defeated Kevin Ramirez (San Marcos) in ultimate tiebreaker, 3-2
165 Pounds
Championship: Mario Carini (Poway) pinned Maercilino Nona (Valhalla) 1:31
Third place: Tanner Doyle (La Costa Canyon) dec. Mahiro Okazaki (Torrey Pines0 1-0
Fifth place: David Daniels (Granite Hills) dec. Weston Druckerman (West Hills) 2-0
175 Pounds
Championship: Junior Bumanglag (Granite Hills) dec. Gunnar Neal (Poway) 3-2
Third place: Dax Curry (Rancho Bernardo) defeated Adam Avila (Brawley) by medical forfeit
Fifth place: Iyland Calvo (Mt. Carmel) pinned Joshua Preske (Torrey Pines) 1:11
190 Pounds
Championship: Dominic Dotson (Poway) pinned Mathew Gutierrez (Brawley) 1:13
Third place: Lawson Fry (La Costa Canyon) defeated Jovanni Mansour (Granite Hills) by medical forfeit
Fifth place: Zachary Haggar (Valhalla) defeated Friday Pollard (Escondido) by medical forfeit
215 Pounds
Championship: Angelo Posada (Poway) pinned Esteban Sanchez (Granite Hills) 3:26
Third place: Victor Gosswiller (Valhalla) pinned Ryan Stadtherr (Scripps Ranch) 3:57
Fifth place: Jayden Parks (El Cajon Valley) pinned Levi Mincher (Imperial) 1:36
285 Pounds
Championship: Daniel Moylan (Poway) dec. Noah Larios (Imperial) 6-4
Third place: Jaiden Lopez (Calipatria) pinned Evan Perez (St. Augustine) 1:57
Fifth place: Carlos Coronado (Vista) dec. Ansu Perez (Torrey Pines) 4-1
Outstanding Wrestlers:
Lower weight: Edwin Sierra (Poway)
Middle Weight: Ames-Michael Hoevker (Granite Hills)
Upper Weight: Angelo Posada (Poway)
Top 30 Teams
Points: 1. Poway 417, 2. Granite Hills 272, 3. Brawley 200, 4. La Costa Canyon 133.5, 5. Torrey Pines 123.5, 6. Valhalla 105, 7. Mt. Carmel 91, 8. Rancho Bernardo 90, 9. Imperial 77, 10. Bonita Vista 76.5, 11. Holtville 58.5, 12. Scripps Ranch 55.5, 13. St. Augustine 48, 14. San Marcos 46.5, 15. Central Union 45, 16. Mira Mesa 43.5, 17. Olympian 43, 18. Ramona 38.5, 19. West Hills 38, 20. Vista 34.5, 21. Escondido 31.5, 22. Calipatria 30, 23. Helix Charter 29.5, 24. El Capitan 27.5, 25. Palo Verde Valley 27, 26. Carlsbad 25.5, 27. Eastlake 25, 28. University City 24.5, 29. Tri-City Christian 23, 30. Southwest El Centro 21.5
Others: 34. El Cajon Valley 18.5, 40. Grossmont 16, 41. Mountain Empire 14.5, 44. Christian 12.5, 47. Santana 10, 60. Steele Canyon 4.5, 64. Mt. Miguel 3.5, 75. Liberty Charter 0
GIRLS TEAMS
Note: Top three place-finishers qualify for state meet
100 Pounds
Championship: Isabella Fodera (Poway) major dec. Alethia Tolentino (Classical Academy) 10-0
Third place: Mahea ‘nia Manubusan (Mira Mesa) dec. Hope Long (Scripps Ranch) 8-3
105 Pounds
Championship: Ava Fodera (Poway) pinned Charis Tolentino (Classical Academy) 1:25
Third place: Reika Proctor (Steele Canyon) pinned Jayselle Suetos (Granite Hills) 3:25
110 Pounds
Championship: Noemi Cordero (Poway) pinned Amina Anbari (Rancho Bernardo) 1:53
Third place: Caroline Collins (Carlsbad) pinned Julyssa Arce (Brawley) 2:12
115 Pounds
Championship: Briana Ross (San Marcos) pinned Jennifer Favela (Brawley) 2:46
Third place: Adriana Rebar (Mira Mesa) dec. Audrina Beltran (Central Union) 11-8
120 Pounds
Championship: Ava Ebrahimi (Poway) dec. Arabella Rascon (Central Union) 5-1
Third place: Chloe Pearce (Rancho Bernardo) pinned Celeste Meyer (Oceanside) 2:50
125 Pounds
Championship: Alyssa Jones (Poway) pinned Mia Gonzales (Central Union) 1:21
Third place: Arely Garcia (Holtville) major dec. Chloe Hervas (San Marcos) 14-5
130 Pounds
Championship: Ruby Julien-Newsom (Torrey Pines) major dec. Jaala Degannes (San Marcos) 15-7
Third place: Vania Victoria (Olympian) pinned Sophia Fodera (Poway) 2:36
135 Pounds
Championship: Lauren Zaragoza (Brawley) pinned Roxanne Raab (Clairemont) 3:57
Third place: Addison Taufa (San Marcos) defeated Keagan Wynne Alatiw (Olympian) in tiebreaker, 8-6
140 Pounds
Championship: Mary Snyder (Rancho Bernardo) dec. Lucia Ledezma (Granite Hills) 9-6
Third place: Xiomara Gallego (Poway) dec. Lily Rodriguez (Central Union) 2-0
145 Pounds
Championship: Amber Spencer (Santana) pinned Maisen Vesco (Rancho Bernardo) 3:04
Third place: Isabel Manalansan (Mira Mesa) dec. Madelyn Hogue (Olympian) 9-5
155 Pounds
Championship: Natalia Righellis (Olympian) pinned Giuliaha Pekelder (Ramona) 1:14
Third place: Marina Gonzalez (Steele Canyon) pinned Makyra Redmond (Grossmont) 2:29
170 Pounds
Championship: Keyona Mae Simmons (San Diego) major dec. Karen Molina (Southwest El Centro) 17-3
Third place: Rossy Para (Lincoln) pinned Abigail Dentice (Carlsbad) 4:40
190 Pounds
Championship: Diana Duarte (San Marcos) pinned Destyni Perez (Brawley) 4:55
Third place: Tairen Lee (Ramona) pinned Sasha Harper (Olympian) 1:33
235 Pounds
Championship: Elisa Najera (Olympian) pinned Angel Hill (Mira Mesa) 3:14
Third place: Patricia Rivera-Juarez (Southwest El Centro) dec. Izabelle Vazquez (Steele Canyon) 4-1
Outstanding Wrestlers
Lower weight: Briana Ross (San Marcos)
Middle Weight: Ruby Julien Newsom (Torrey Pines)
Upper Weight: Natalia Righellis (Olympian)
Top 30 Teams
Points: 1. Poway 173, 2. Olympian 108, 3. Brawley 107.5, 4. San Marcos 95, 5. Rancho Bernardo 91.5, 6. Central Union 85, 7. Mira Mesa 72, 8. Steele Canyon 57, 9. Ramona 52, 10. Granite Hills 39, 11. Coastal Academy 38, 12. Lincoln 37, 13. Hotlville 30, 14. Santana 30, 15. Scripps Ranch 29.5, 16. Oceanside 29, 17. Southwest El Centro 29, 18. Carlsbad 26.5, 19. Pt. Loma 23.5, 20. San Diego 23.5, 21. Torrey Pines 23, 22. Imperial 22, 23. Grossmont 22, 24. Clairemont 20, 25. Calexico 17, 26. Easstlake 17, 27. Monte Vista 16.5, 28. San Pasqual 13, 29. Mission Bay 12, 30. Calipatria 11
Others: 32. West Hills 9, 25. Helix Charter 7, 43. El Capitan 4, 44. Liberty Charter 4, 51. Christian 0, 54, El Cajon Valley 0, 67. Mt. Miguel 0, 75. Valhalla 0, 78. Mountain Empire -1
Holy head gear! Eagles place runner-up at Masters wrestling
East County will be well represented on the mat at this weekend’s state championship meet in Bakersfield with 16 qualified wrestlers — 12 boys and four girls.
Granite Hills head coach Jesse Sheard was hoping to make an impact at last weekend’s San Diego Masters state-qualifying tournament at Christian High School in El Cajon for a large contingent traveling to the Central Valley venue with a bead on placing at the state meet as a team.
He may have gotten his wish with 10 Eagles heading to Bakersfield as state qualifiers from the boys tournament.
Included in the bunch are seven Masters finalists and two weight class champions.
“They’re up there with the best of Granite Hills,” Sheard said. “They’re among the top ones who have ever been here.”
The top four place-finishers in each weight class in the boys tournament qualified to wrestle at the state meet while the top six placers in each weight class received medals.
Junior Ames-Michael Hoevker captured an 11-7 back-and-forth match from Poway’s Matthew Orbeta to win the 138-pound gold medal while Junior Bumanglag claimed a tight 3-2 decision from Poway’s Gunnar Neal at 175 pounds.
Silver medalists among the Eagles’ finalists included Damian Arreola (113 pounds), Laronz Fraser (144 pounds), Aiden Chur (150 pounds), Ryan Carroll (157 pounds) and Estevan Sanchez (215 pounds).
Bronze medalists included Emilio Escobar (120 pounds) and Uriah Hawkins (126 pounds) while Jovanni Mansour placed fourth (190 pounds).
Escobar shut out Torrey Pines’ Carter Bolt by a 7-0 decision while Hawkins out-pointed Tri-City Christian’s Cade Johnston in a high scoring 13-11 match.
Arreola came up short by a 10-8 decision to Poway’s Rene Cordero while Chur lost a 10-4 bout against Poway’s Carlos Valdiviezo. Carroll dropped a 16-1 technical fall to Poway’s Bailey Holman while Fraser and Sanchez both lost by pins to Poway mat men in the finals.
Additionally, Damian Jones (132 pounds) and David Daniels (165 pounds) both placed fifth to give Granite Hills 12 grapplers standing atop the award stand.
Hoevker (41-4) received the tourney’s outstanding middle weight award after recording three pins (two first-period falls) in four matches. He pinned Southwest El Centro’s Diego Villa in 1:17 in his first match and dispatched St. Augustine’s Braeden Steele in 1:10 in his second match. Hoevker, the top seed in the division, pinned Mt. Carmel’s Tyoh Tran in 2:47 in the semifinals.
“My goal is to be a state champion and, honestly, to be the best in the world,” Hoevker said unabashedly. “I started out (in the final) with my attacks that worked well and gave up some stalling points. I came in expecting to win.”
Bumanglag was seeded second in his weight and wreaked havoc on the mat with three consecutive pins to reach the final. He opened with a 1:47 fall against Scripps Ranch’s Isaiah Castillo, then pinned Rancho Bernardo’s Dax Curry in 1:22. The Eagle mat warrior pinned Mt. Carmel’s Iyland Calvo in 3:58 in the semifinals.
“So far, it’s going pretty good,” said Bumanglag, who is making his second trek to the state meet. “Last year I had a little burp in that I took second at Masters. This year I bounced back. I’m looking to place top four at state. California is a little different. It’s the only state with one champion for each weight class.”
Fraser used a pair of pins and a 14-3 major decision to reach the championship round while Carroll finished with two pins on his finals journey.
Neal is the son of former San Diego Cavers wrestling superstar Stephen Neal, who would go on to win two NCAA national wrestling championships at Cal State Bakersfield, a world championship in freestyle wrestling and three Super Bowl championship during a 10-year career with the NFL New England Patriots.
The elder Neal, who went 156-10 in four All-American seasons at CSU Bakersfield and also won a Pan American gold medal, helped present awards at last weekend’s Masters.
The Valhalla Norsemen, runners-up at the preceding Division II section championship tournament, recorded two state qualifiers, one Masters finalist and four Masters medalists.
Junior Marcelino Nona emerged with a runner-up finish at 165 pounds while senior Victor Gosswiller finished third at 215 pounds.
Nona and Gosswiller, both gold medalists at the preceding Division II tournament, each recorded two pins at Masters.
Other Norsemen medal winners included Zachary Haggar (fifth place, 190 pounds) and Ivan Rivers (sixth place, 132 pounds).
East County had 19 Masters medalists overall. El Cajon Valley’s Jayden Parks pinned Imperial’s Levi Mincher in 1:36 to place fifth in his 215-pound weight class while Grossmont’s Alexander Resico (144 pounds) and West Hills’ Weston Druckerman (165 pounds) both departed the gym with sixth-place medals.
Parks, the Division III individual champion, had three first-period pins in the tournament.
Jones posted an 11-3 major decision over Rivers while Daniels decisioned Druckerman, 2-0, in all-East County medal matches.
Besides Hoevker, other Masters outstanding wrestlers included Poway 120-pounder Edwin Sierra (lower weight) and Poway 215-pounder Angelo Posada (upper weight), both four-time Masters champions.
Ladies first
Girls wrestling continues to grow within the San Diego Section, specifically within the Grossmont Conference.
“We’re had a huge growth in talent,” said Steele Canyon coach Trevor Keifer, who serves as one of the chief advocates of girls wrestling in the section. “Teams have grown in size. Teams that were small in the past are now big. We’ve got a lot more quality coaches on board.
“The Grossmont Conference has pulled together with six to eight teams with at least eight to 10 weight classes filled. We’ve had enough girls to have our own conference tournament.”
The ladies from Steele captured both the Grossmont Hills League title and conference championship while Santana won the Grossmont Valley League title.
“Our Grossmont girls have progressed a lot. I expect that to continue. The quality in San Diego overall is very good. At state, we could hit double digits in medals again. We had 13 last year.”
The top four girls place-winners received medals at this year’s Masters while the top three place-finishers qualified to compete at this weekend’s state tournament.
The Grossmont Conference advanced seven wrestlers to medal matches, with four advancing to the state meet.
Santana’s Amber Spencer keyed the conference’s mat women with a gold medal showing in her 145-pound weight class while Granite Hills’ Lucia Ledezma finished with the silver medal at 140 pounds.
Bronze medalists included Steele Canyon’s Reika Proctor at 105 pounds and Marina Gonzalez at 155 pounds.
Fourth-place medalists included Granite Hills’ Jayselle Suetos (105 pounds), Grossmont’s Makyra Redmond (155 pounds) and Steele Canyon’s Izabelle Vazquez (235 pounds).
As a sign of growth, there were all-East County matchups in bronze medal matches. Proctor pinned Suetos in 3:25 while Gonzalez pinned Redmond in 2:29.
Steele Canyon had three medalists while Granite Hills had two medalists.
Ledezma, the No. 2 seed, dropped a 9-6 decision to Rancho Bernardo’s Mary Snyder (top seed) to finish runner-up in her weight class while Spencer was simply the division’s class act.
Spencer is a returning state medalist after finishing eighth in her weight class at last year’s state tournament — the first state placer at the Santee school since 1995.
She entered this year’s Masters ranked seventh in the state; the top eight place-winners in Bakersfield earn medals.
She could be a two-time state medalist if everything falls into place.
“It feels good to go back again,” said Spencer, who was seeded first in her weight class. “I want to get another statemedal. It’s crazy. I just want to do my moves, do my thing, go for the pin.”
The Lady Sultan standout reeled off three consecutive pins after a first-round bye to claim her first Masters title after two runner-up finishes. She pinned Valley Center’s Krista Ghosh in 4:27 in the quarterfinals, then pinned Mira Mesa’s Isabel Manalansan in 3:47 in the semifinals to advance to the championship match.
Spencer recorded a 3:04 fall against Rancho Bernardo’s Maisen Vesco in the championship round to make history.
She takes an impressive 30-1 record into the state meet.
“She’s been laying the foundation for the program at Santana,” girls coach John Sardella said. “She’s setting records and breaking records. She’s a coach’s dream. She’s a special athlete.
“She’s a very hard worker. She’s more than just the MVP of the team, She’s started a legacy. We’ll see if we can bring home another state medal.”
Longtime boys wrestling power Poway showed it can master girls wrestling as well by winning the team title with 173 points and six state qualifiers (five Masters champions). Five-time CIF champion Olympian spread its wings in second place with 108 points and three state qualifiers (two Masters champions).
Brawley finished in third place with 107.5 points (just a half-point out of second) with three state qualifiers. San Marcos, with four state qualifiers, was fourth with 95 points.
Outstanding wrestlers included San Marcos’ Briana Ross at 115 pounds (lower weight), Torrey Pines’ Ruby Julien Newsom at 130 pounds (middle weight) and Olympian’s Natalia Righellis at 155 pounds (upper weight).
