It’s been the general consensus that the caliber of wrestling within the confines of the Metro Conference has increased in recent years. The numbers certainly support that this year following last weekend’s San Diego Section divisional championship tournaments — the first stop along the often obstacle-strewn path to the state championship meet.
Adding up the results of the four divisional tournaments, 49 Metro wrestlers qualified for this weekend’s two-day San Diego Masters state qualifying tournament at Southwest El Centro High School in Imperial Valley and total of 63 Metro wrestlers earned place-finishes at last weekend’s CIF divisional tournaments.
Four Metro wrestlers won individual weight class championships while 13 Metro wrestlers advanced to the championship round in their respective divisions, with nine grapplers recording runner-up finishers.
How many Metro wrestlers will make it to the state championship meet? That’s a good question without an easy answer.
The top three place-finishers in each of 14 weight classes at this weekend’s Masters tournament (Feb. 27-28) will punch tickets to the state meet March 6-7 in Bakersfield.
The 13 Metro divisional finalists certainly have to be given strong consideration, led by the South County region’s four CIF individual champions.
Eastlake’s Ben Martinez (108 pounds) and Ronnie Sallee (197 pounds), along with Otay Ranch’s Kristian Aguirre (162 pounds), all won CIF titles at last Saturday’s Division I tournament at Mission Hills High School.
Mar Vista’s Aaron Olmos (147 pounds) claimed the Division III individual championship in competition at Del Norte High School.
The Metro’s nine divisional runners-up included Otay Ranch’s Dylan Costello (140 pounds) and Mustafa Farha (222 pounds), along with Eastlake’s Jake Suggett (287 pounds), at the Division I finals; Olympian’s Bryan Sanchez (108 pounds) and Dante Preciado (134 pounds), along with San Ysidro’s Roberto A La Torre (154 pounds) and Hilltop’s Seamus Beyerle (172 pounds), at the Division II finals; Mar Vista’s Christian Winnie (108 pounds) at the Division III finals; and Mater Dei Catholic’s Ivan Duran (172 pounds) at the Division IV finals.
Overall, nine of the 14 individual Metro champions were represented in the championship round of last weekend’s CIF finals.
The coaches’ picks?
Seven Metro wrestlers entered post-season competition ranked among the top four wrestlers in their respective weight classes. They included Sanchez and A La Torre (both second), Preciado and Suggett (both third), and Costello, Olmos and Sallee (all fourth).
Sallee has won five tournaments this season and appears on a roll.
But it’s wait and see. The journey to state is halfway down that long road. It’s a good start.
Metro finalists meet their match at Division II CIF championships
The San Diego Section Division II wrestling championship tournament, held last Saturday at San Ysidro High School, rated the most challenging among the four division tournaments that took place last weekend.
All four of the Metro Conference wrestlers to make it as far as the championship round took home runner-up medals. But just getting that far was a heroic feat.
How tough was this year’s Division II tournament? Poway, ranked second in the state, won the 18-team tournament with 270.5 points, with runner-up (and fellow North County power) La Costa Canyon totaling 211 points.
In fact, the top six teams all hailed from the rugged confines of North County. Rancho Bernardo placed third with 147.5 points, followed by fourth-place Vista with 128 points, fifth-place Mt. Carmel with 112.5 points and sixth-place Westview with 101 points.
Metro Conference powers Olympian (seventh, 89 points), San Ysdiro (eighth, 87 points) and Hilltop (ninth, 75 points) were next in line to lead the rest of the section.
The South County mat programs represented themselves well in the challenging field. The top seven place-finishers in each of 14 weight classes at the Division II tournament qualified to compete in this weekend’s San Diego Masters state-qualifying tournament at Southwest El Centro High School.
Hilltop and San Ysidro both notched six Masters qualifiers while Olympian had five Masters qualifiers and Bonita Vista had two Masters qualifiers in the talent-laden field.
“We did better advancing as a team, as individuals it was more difficult,” said San Ysidro coach Luis Ojeda, whose team captured its fourth consecutive South Bay League dual meet championship this season. “We’ll be taking a few to Masters. It’s a reloading year for us but the guys have a lot of heart and I’m proud of them. We have some guys to watch out for in the future. They’re hungry. It’s nice to work with kids who are like that — hard workers.”
“We did a lot better than last week at the conference finals when we lost a lot of matches in the consolation semifinals,” Hilltop coach Thomas Juarez said. “We lost a lot of potential third-place points. We were able to capitalize on that (winning matches in the consolation wrestle-backs) at this tournament.
“Five of our six Masters qualifiers had to wrestle back in the consolation rounds. If they lost one match, they were out. That was the incentive to keep them wrestling.”
Olympian’s Bryan Sanchez and Dante Preciado, along with San Ysidro’s Roberto A la Torre and Hilltop’s Seamus Beyerle, kept wrestling all the way to the finals.
Sanchez (39-5) placed runner-up in his 108-pound weight class following a tight 3-1 setback to Poway freshman Chase Zollman (33-7) while Preciado (33-5) also fought hard in absorbing a similar 3-1 setback to Poway senior Manny Lair (36-7), a returning state medalist (eighth in the state last year).
A La Torre (36-3) came the closest to victory in dropping a 7-5 overtime decision to Poway sophomore Hampton Boyd (26-6).
Beyerle lost by major decision, 16-6, to Poway senior Philip Pham (25-5).
Poway. Poway. Poway. Poway. The Titans advanced all 14 wrestlers to the championship round and came off the mat with 13 individual Division II championships.
Poway senior Colt Doyle, a returning state champion, improved to 34-0 on the season with a gritty 2-0 finals win over Hoover senior Kenneth Moore (34-5).
It’s tough competing against not only one of the top programs in the state but also in the nation.
Sanchez had lost, 3-0, to Zollman in a previous encounter this season while Preciado had previously dropped a 7-1 decision to Lair. The rematches were closer.
“He was stalling the last period, backing up,” Preciado said. “He tilted me the first time; he didn’t do that this time. I’ve gotten better from the first time.”
“I was going non-stop — I’ll get him next time,” Sanchez promised.
A La Torre forced overtime on a last-second takedown in his final.
“The Poway kid wrestled hard,” Ojeda noted. “It was a close match. It could have gone either way. We’re looking forward to the rematch at Masters.”
Masters is a meat-grinder, so expect some surprises.
SAN DIEGO SECTION WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
(METRO CONFERENCE PLACE-WINNERS)
Division I
Mission Hills High School
Team champion: San Marcos 231 points
Team runner-up: Rancho Buena Vista 200 points
Metro Conference teams: 4. Otay Ranch 130 points, 6. Eastlake 118 points, 15. Chula Vista 38 points, 17. Sweetwater 8 points
Individual medalists
First place
108: Benjamin Martinez (Eastlake)
172: Kristian Aguirre (Otay Ranch)
197: Ronnie Sallee (Eastlake)
Second place
140: Dylan Costello (Otay Ranch)
222: Mustafa Farha (Otay Ranch)
287: Jake Suggett (Eastlake)
Third place
115: Brandon McCurdy (Otay Ranch)
147: Edward Acosta (Otay Ranch)
Fifth place
154: Sithara Diunugala (Otay Ranch)
Sixth place
154: Christian Alonso (Chula Vista)
184: Tanner Waller (Eastlake)
287: Roman Delgado (Chula Vista)
Seventh place
115: Victor Gallegos (Eastlake)
128: Michael Johnson (Eastlake)
134: Isai Garcia (Eastlake)
162: Jonathan Wu (Otay Ranch)
197: Juan Perez (Chula Vista)
Eighth place
140: Ethan Hill (Eastlake)
172: Joshua Pultorak (Eastlake)
222: Jorge Melero (Sweetwater)
Division II
San Ysidro High School
Team champion: Poway 370.5 points
Team runner-up: La Costa Canyon 211 points
Metro Conference teams: 7. Olympian 89 points, 8. San Ysidro 87 points, 9. Hilltop 75 points, 14. Bonita Vista 27 points
Individual medalists
Second place
108: Bryan Sanchez (Olympian)
134: Dante Preciado (Olympian)
154: Roberto A la Torre (San Ysidro)
172: Seamus Beyerle (Hilltop)
Third place
140: Mario A La Torre (San Ysidro)
Fourth place
115: Ethan Ramos (Olympian)
122: Joey Babauta (Bonita Vista)
128: Giany Barbosa (Hilltop)
162: Pablo Perez (San Ysidro)
Fifth place
134: Alberto Garcia (Hilltop)
172: Uriel Beristain (Olympian)
Sixth place
115: Oscar Munive (San Ysidro)
154: Dominic Esparza (Hilltop)
197: Jorge Herrera (San Ysidro)
Seventh place
108: Nate Lara (Hilltop)
122: Joseph Torres (Hilltop)
147: Matt Ayala (Bonita Vista)
184: Donato Lorenzo (Olympian)
222: Jose Elizalde Hafely (San Ysidro)
Eighth place
122: Jorbel Alvarez (San Ysidro)
128: Luciano Parra (Olympian)
172: Emmanuel Barajas (Bonita Vista)
Division III
Del Norte High School
Team champion: Brawley 320.5 points
Team runner-up: Ramona 195.5 points
Metro Conference teams: 5. Mar Vista 94, 15. Montgomery 36, 16, Castle Park 35, 19. Southwest 25.5
Individual medalists
First place
147: Aaron Olmos (Mar Vista)
Second place
108: Christian Winnie (Mar Vista)
Third place
134: Adrian Lopez (Montgomery)
222: Ramon Cooper (Castle Park)
Fourth place
162: Zennon Jurado (Mar Vista)
Fifth place
140: Jacob Belury (Mar Vista)
154: Sean Jones (Mar Vista)
162: Erick Robles (Castle Park)
Sixth place
134: Julian Luna (Southwest)
222: Miguel Ballesteros (Montgomery)
Seventh place
108: Brian Alegre (Montgomery)
154: Max Contreras (Southwest)
Eighth place
115: Francisco Montes (Southwest)
154: Raymont Eddington (Montgomery)
287: Jesus Alberto Garcia (Southwest)
Division IV
Holtville High School
Team champion: Holtville 236.5 points
Team runner-up: Mt. Miguel 203.5 points
Metro Conference teams: 9. Mater Dei Catholic 83.5 points, 18. High Tech Chula Vista 8 points
Individual medalists
Second place
172: Ivan Duran (Mater Dei Catholic)
Third place
128: Jonas Ullsperger (Mater Dei Catholic)
Fourth place
147: Cade Congden (Mater Dei Catholic)
Fifth place
140: Alejandro Carrillo (Mater Dei Catholic)
184: Salvador Lutteroth (Mater Dei Catholic)
Sixth place
222: Tyler Buenviaje (Mater Dei Catholic)
