The Metro Conference wrestling championship tournament is scheduled Feb. 14 at Mar Vista High School. It’s crunch time for area mat men.
Who will go on to earn post-season glory at the ensuing San Diego Section divisional championships? Who will punch their ticket to this year’s state championship meet in Bakersfield?
Those questions look to be answered over the next few weeks as the high school mat campaign comes to an exciting conclusion.
“It’s going to be an exciting post-season,” Mar Vista High School coach Mario Olmos said. “We have several wrestlers who are on the cusp of qualifying for the state meet.”
Foremost among them is Olmos’ son Aaron, who entered 2015 ranked fourth in the section his 152-pound weight class. The younger Olmos just missed qualifying for last year’s state championships as a freshman and appears ready to toss his hat into the ring again.
The top three place-finishers at the San Diego Section Masters state qualifying tournament, which is slated Feb. 27-28 at Southwest El Centro High School in Imperial Valley, advance to the two-day state tournament March 6-7 in Bakersfield.
Aaron Olmos is one of seven Metro grapplers hovering near the top of the section rankings. He is joined on that elite list by the Olympian tandem of Bryan Sanchez (second at 106 pounds) and Dante Preciado (fourth at 132 pounds), Otay Ranch’s Dylan Costello (fourth at 138), San Ysidro’s Roberto A La Torre (second at 152 pounds), Eastlake’s Ronnie Sallee (third at 195 pounds) and Montgomery’s Miguel Ballesteros (fourth at 285 pounds).
Preciado turned in a breakthrough performance at last year’s Masters tournament at Mission Hills High School by earning a fifh-place medal in his 126-pound weight class.
He opened this season right where he left off by capturing weight class championships in the section’s two regular season showcase tournaments: the Jimmy Hamada La Costa Canyon Classic and the 44th annual El Cajon Invitational.
Preciado went 5-0 at the Hamada Classic with two pins, a 9-0 major decision in the semifinals and a gritty 3-2 championship round victory over Escondido’s Andrew Villanueva.
Preciado went 5-0 at the ECI, defeating Randle Crowly from Las Vegas Coronadoby by a 7-2 score at 138 pounds.
Preciado called winning the back-to-back weight class championships at the section’s two most prestigious regular season tournaments a season highlight.
Sanchez also was victorious at the LCC tourney. He won the 106-pound title with three first-period pins and a 14-12 overtime decision over Rim of the World’s Joey Dorsey in the championship round. The showing earned Sanchez, the 106-pound champion at last year’s Division III section championship tournament, the LCC tourney’s Lower Weight MVP award.
Both Sanchez and Preciado competed at the Temecula Battle for the Belt mega-draw regional tournament Jan. 16-17. Sanchez went 6-3 to place eighth in the massive talent draw event while Preciado went 5-2.
Preciado improved to 21-3 on the season after recording a 17-1 technical fall against Eastlake’s Sir Avington in a Mesa League dual meet encounter on Jan. 22, while Sanchez improved to 18-3 on the season after shading Eastlake’s Ben Martinez by a 10-4 decision in the same dual (won 41-26 by Eastlake).
Olympian coach Myron Griffin called both Sanchez and Preciado the “backbones” of this year’s squad.
“Bryan’s first goal is to qualify for the state meet, and his long-range goal is to medal at state,” Griffin said. “Dante is having an amazing season. His goals are very similar to Bryan’s.”
The two high-flying Eagles were among six Metro mat men to excel at the big imprint Hamada Classic.
A La Torre captured the 152-pound championship while Olmos took fourth place in the same field. A La Torre, second at 138 pounds at last year’s Division II section finals, edged Olmos (second at last year’s Division III section finals and fourth at last year’s Masters), by a 3-1 score in the semifinals.
Also, Bonita Vista’s Matt Ayala placed eighth in his 145-pound weight class while Mar Vista’s Raymond Medrano was eighth at 182 pounds.
Olmos most recently captured the 152-pound championship at the 26-team Monte Vista Invitational Jan. 17 in Spring Valley to improve to 15-4 on the season. The MVHS grappler successfully defended the title he won the previous year as a freshman by edging Helix’s Walter Todd, 3-2, in the finals.
ECI place-winners
The El Cajon Invitational, once regarded as the section’s crown jewel regular season tournament, continues to gain ground in restoring its prestige value. This season’s tournament, held Dec. 19-20, featured 47 schools in attendance.
Five Metro teams managed to crack the top 20 list of finishers. San Ysidro led the way in ninth place, followed by Eastlake (11th place), Otay Ranch (12th place), Olympian (13th place) and Hilltop (19th place).
South County wrestlers brought home some hefty hardware from the pre-Christmas event. Individual awards were presented down to eighth place. A solid group of 21 Metro grapplers earned spots on the awards stand.
San Ysidro’s A La Torre joined Preciado at the top of the awards stand by winning the 152-pound championship while Hilltop’s Alberto Garcia placed runner-up in his 132-pound weight class.
Third-place finishers included Otay Ranch’s Costello (145) and Kristian Aguirre (160).
Eastlake’s Martinez placed fourth at 106 pounds while San Ysidro’s Jose Reyes was fourth at 132 pounds, Eastlake’s Sallee was fourth at 195 pounds and Montgomery’s Ballesteros was fourth at 285 pounds.
Fifth-place finishers included San Ysidro’s Mario A La Torre (145), Otay Ranch’s Mustafa Farha (220) and Eastlake’s Jake Suggett (285).
Sixth-place finishers included Eastlake’s Isai Garcia (126), Hilltop’s Seamus Beyerle (160) and Otay Ranch’s Esteban Perez (285).
Seventh-place finishers included Olympian’s Ethan Ramos (113) and Olympian’s Uriel Beristain (160).
Eighth-place finishers included Hilltop’s Carlos Callejas (113), Bonita Vista’s Joey Babauta (132), Chula Vista’s Chris Alonso (160) and Olympian’s Donato Lorenzo (182).
CIF finals
The section’s four divisional championship tournaments are scheduled Feb. 21. Venue sites include Mission Hills (Division I), San Ysidro (Division II), Del Norte (Division III) and Holtville (Division IV).
Up next:
Nine Metro Conference schools will compete in this weekend’s annual Holtville Invitational: Bonita Vista, Eastlake, Hilltop, Mar Vista, Mater Dei Catholic, Olympian, San Ysidro, Southwest and Sweetwater.
Rewind:
Eastlake finished second as a team at December’s 27th annual Mira Mesa Marauder Invitational. The Titans finished 17 points ahead of third place Grossmont and 43.5 points behind team champion Poway.
Top Eastlake medalists included Jake Suggett (first, 285), Ben Martinez (second, 106), Joshua Pultorak (second, 195), Ronnie Sallee (second, 220), Ethan Hills (third, 138), Michael Johnson (fourth, 126) and Micah Mendillo (fifth. 160).
Hilltop also competed in the 25-team tournament. Top place-winners for the Lancers (11th in the team standings) included Alberto Garcia (first, 138), Seamus Beyerle (first, 170), Carlos Callejas (fourth, 113) and Nate Lara (fifth, 113).
Eastlake Titans lead local honor roll by winning Mission Hills tournament; Metro grapplers excel at Monte Vista Invitational
Eastlake opened the 2015 portion of the 2014-15 high school wrestling season by winning the team title at the Mission Hills tournament on Jan. 3.
Top place-finishers for the Titans included Ben Martinez (first at 106) and Ronnie Sallee (first at 195). Also earning place-finishes were Jesus Galvadon (third at 113), Joshua Auditor (third at 126), Ricky Renteria (third at 220), Victor Gallegos (fourth at 120), Sebastian Smith (fourth at 170), Daniel Martinez (fourth at 285), Carlos Vazquez (sixth at 160) and Joshua Pultorak (sixth at 182).
Bonita Vista, Mater Dei Catholic and Montgomery also competed at the Mission Hills tournament.
BV’s Joey Babauta (126) and Matt Ayala (152) both won weight class championships while Montgomery’s Miguel Ballesteros (285) placed second in his weight division.
Other top placers included MDC’s Jonas Ullsperger (second at 126), Nick Lopez (fifth at 120) and Ivan Duran (fifth at 182); Montgomery’s Andrew Jaffe (fifth at 152); and Bonita Vista’s Jacob Castro (sixth at 126) and Emmanuel Barajas (sixth at 170).
Hear them roar
Six Metro schools competed at the Monte Vista Invitational on Jan. 17. . San Ysidro led the group in fourth place, followed by Otay Ranch (fifth), Olympian (seventh), Mar Vista (ninth), Castle Park (15th) and Montgomery (16th).
Top showings were turned in by Mar Vista’s Christian Winnie (first at 106) and Aaron Olmos (first at 152), Montgomery’s Jaffe (first at 145) and Otay Ranch’s Kristian Aguirre (first at 160), and Mustafa Farha (first at 220).
Winnie won his opening three matches by pin, then defeated Monte Vista’s Giovanni Pagan in triple overtime in the championship match to highlight his tournament showing.
Second-place finishes went to Otay Ranch’s Dylan Costello (138), Olympian’s Uriel Beristain (160) and Donato Lorenzo (182), San Ysidro’s Yael Osuna (195) and Castle Park’s Ramon Cooper (220).
Placing third were Otay Ranch’s Brandon McCurdy (113), San Ysidro’s Jorbel Alvarez (120) and Isai Casilla (126) and Montgomery’s Ballesteros (285).
Other place-winners included Olympian’s Ethan Deguzman (fourth at 106), San Ysidro’s Oscar Munive (fourth at 113), Olympian’s Jedrik Farin (fourth at 120), Castle Park’s Arturo Ramos (fourth at 126), San Ysidro’s Arath Rodriguez (fourth at 182), Otay Ranch’s Jacob Knight (fifth at 113), Olympian’s Royce Casiano (fifth at 132), Castle Park’s Erick Robles (fifth at 170), Otay Ranch’s Christopher Gomez (fifth at 195) and San Ysdiro’s Jorge Herrera (fifth at 220), Pablo Perez (sixth at 152) and Jose Hafely (sixth at 285).
Spartans pound out 62-15 South Bay League? dual win over Trojans
Chula Vista defeated visiting Castle Park, 62-15, on Thursday, Jan. 29, to improve to 3-1 in South Bay League dual meet competition. The Spartans roared to a 53-0 start on the strength of three forfeit wins, pins by Jessy Romero (120), Carlos Canazales (132), Alan Miramontes (138), Nestor Huerta (152), Chris Alonso (160) and Roman Delgado (285), a technical fall by Paul Lopez (145) and a minor decision by Carlos Cazares (195).
Castle Park picked up three wins: pins by Erick Robles (170) and Ramon Cooper (220) and a minor decision by Hector Albañez (182).
For Chula Vista, Romero (1:28), Canazales (:35), Miramontes (1:21), Huerta (1:48) all recorded first-period pins.
The Spartans faced off the 2014-15 season as the highest-placing Metro Conference team at the Bud Harbin Memorial Mar Vista Battle by the Beach tournament.
San Ysidro handed Chula Vista its lone league dual loss thus far to assume a leading role.
“We’ve got a young team and we’ve had some injuries that have hurt us,” Spartan coach Daryl Butterfield said.
Castle Park coach Robert Schertzer also pleaded youth for his team. “We’re pretty young with only a couple of seniors in our lineup,” he said.
Girl powered
Thursday’s Chula Vista-Caste Park dual meet featured three female wrestlers: Romero and Jennifer Mencillas (106) for the Spartans and Karla Gonzalez (145) for the Trojans.
Gonzalez made history last season as the first female wrestler from Castle Park to qualify for the girls state championship meet.
“It was an honor to be the first and hopefully I can do it again,” she said.
Gonzalez qualified as the runner-up in last year’s San Diego Section finals at 143 pounds. She is competing in the same weight class this season, and already has wins over four male foes chalked up to her credit this season.
“Wrestling boys is more of a challenge,” she said. “They’re more aggressive, so whenever a girl can beat a boy, I think it’s a little more impressive than a girl beating another girl. So, yes, it’s a feather in my cap.”
Gonzalez is slated to compete in this weekend’s girls tournament at Mt. Miguel High School. Despite placing second at last year’s section finals, Gonzalez has yet to compete in a girls tournament this year.
“She’s a cheerleader and always going to cheerleading events on Saturdays,” Schertzer noted.
The CPHS coach remains impressed with what he’s seen on the mat from Gonzalez this season, albeit wrestling against boys.
“She’s persistent, very smart and very flexible,” he said. “Being a cheerleader helps her being flexible and being able to do some of the harder moves.”
This year’s section championship tournament is scheduled Feb. 14 at Rancho Buena Vista High School.
