The Metro Conference will be sending a hefty total of 16 wrestlers to this weekend’s California state championship tournament after the latest group of four boys punched their tickets to Bakersfield’s Mechanics Arena.
The top four place-finishers in each of 14 weight classes at last weekend’s San Diego Masters state qualifying tournament at Southwest El Centro High School earned the right to extend their seasons. South County’s state honor roll includes Eastlake’s Jesus Plascencia, Olympian’s Ralph Magsino and Zachary Ramos, and Bonita Vista’s Ricardo Castillo.
Plascencia (115 pounds) and Magsino (122 pounds) both finished third in their respective weight classes while Ramos (115) and Castillo (140) both finished fourth.
The four male grapplers join the conference’s dazzling field of 12 female state qualifiers: Olympian’s Yesenia DeGuire (103) and Angelina Leal (237), San Ysidro’s Alexa Rosales (123) and Desirae Ferguson (128), Eastlake’s Brooke Klomp (162) and Sabrin Farha (152), Hilltop’s Valerie Gurule-Metzig (108) and Nahdia Barrientos (133), Otay Ranch’s Kayla Tolentino (118) and Mar Vista’s Anya Rodriguez (128), Mary Cincotta (133) and Nuonnettra Kanzaki (139).
DeGuire, Rodriguez and Barrientos all won individual weight class championships while Rosales, Ferguson and Klomp all took second place in their weight divisions.
The inaugural San Diego Masters girls state qualifying tournament took place Feb. 21 at Steele Canyon High School.
Olympian will be sending four wrestlers to the three-day state tournament that runs Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 27-29.
Live scoring will be offered through www.cifstate.org.
Making the grade
Qualifying for the state meet through the section finals is not an easy task considering that few qualifying slots are left after perennial mega powers Poway (Division II team champion), Rancho Bernardo (Division I team champion) and Brawley (Division III team champion) have laid waste to the field.
Poway, the runaway Masters team champion with 396.5 points, qualified all 14 of its wrestlers for this weekend’s state finals and will be looking to nail down an elite place-finish.
Rancho Bernardo, the second-place team finisher with 225 points, qualified eight wrestlers while Brawley, the fifth-place finisher with 107.5 points, qualified five wrestlers.
Mira Mesa, which finished third in the team standings with 132 points, and Division IV team champion Imperial (fourth place, 108.5 points) both qualified three wrestlers, as did La Costa Canyon (sixth place, 100 points) and Vista (eighth place, 88 points).
Those seven teams swallowed up 39 of the 56 qualifying spots between them (70 percent). The remaining 17 spots were divided among 14 teams.
There were some inspiring performances turned in by local mat men.
Plascencia, the fifth-place finisher at the preceding Division I finals, won his opening two matches to advance to the semifinals. He defeated La Costa Canyon’s Makai Ito by an 11-0 major decision in his first trip to the mat, then pinned Helix’s Isaiah Graves in 5:19 in the quarterfinals.
Plascencia’s run through the championship round ended in the next round following a pin in 31 seconds by Poway’s Brock Bobzien, the Division II champion.
The Eastlake mat man would win his next two consolation matches, however, to secure a coveted trip to the state meet.
Plascencia defeated Imperial’s Christopher Guizar, the Division IV champion, by a 9-0 major decision in the consolation semifinals, then received a win by medical forfeit from Olympian’s Ramos.
Ramos, the second-place finisher at the Division I tournament, had qualified for the state meet by pinning Scripps Ranch’s Mitchell Hallmark in 2:54 in the consolation semifinals.
Ramos had also advanced to the semifinals on the strength of a pair of opening wins — a 4:53 fall against Bonita Vista’s Cameron Alanis and a 4-3 decision over Hilltop’s Christian Aguilera.
Ramos lost by a 5:19 pin to Rancho Bernardo’s Brandon Eusibio in the semifinals.
Magsino, the second-place finisher at the Division I finals, had to take a longer route to qualify for the state tournament.
The Eagle grappler pinned Orange Glen’s Jesse Mendez Torres in 1:33 in his opening bout but lost to Valley Center’s Thomas Lavigne, the Division IV champion, by a 4:29 pin in the quarterfinals.
Magsino came back strong with four consecutive wins to end the tournament with a 5-1 record.
Magsino won by a 15-0 technical fall against Eastlake’s Tomas Jacobo in a consolation elimination match, then shut out Bonita Vista’s Joel Lopez, 4-0, in the next consolation round.
Magsino claimed a state berth with an 8-6 win over RB’s Gavin Concepcion, the Division I champion, in the consolation semifinals, then gained additional prestige points with a forfeit win over Brawley’s Anthony Maldonado in the third-place match.
Castillo, the third-place finisher at the Division II tournament, won his opening two matches – a 10-2 major decision over Patrick Henry’s Elijah Vinoray and a 6-4 decision over El Camino’s Alberto Padilla.
The BV matster, however, could not advance past Poway’s Zane Stoddard, the Division II champion, in the quarterfinals after dropping a 9-0 major decision.
But the tournament ended in a positive experience for Castillo with wins in three of his next four matches to finish 5-2 over the two-day event.
Castillo eliminated Holtville’s Richard Garcia, the Division IV champion, with a 4-2 decision in his first consolation match, then edged Mira Mesa’s Gavin Kaminski, 2-1, in another high-stakes consolation match to advance to the consolation semifinals.
Castillo won a 5-1 decision over Olympian’s Mico Gonzalez, the second-place finisher at the Division I finals, to advance to the bronze medal match and earn a ticket to the state meet.
Castillo ended his eventful run through the tournament with a loss by a 10-2 major decision to San Diego’s Alexander Schwaebe, the Division I champion, in the third-place match.
Soaring Eagles
The top six place-finishers in each weight class received medals. Olympian brought a total of nine wrestlers to this year’s Masters tournament and departed the desert with five medalists to place seventh among the 68 participating teams.
Ryan Magsino (128), Gonzalez (140) and Alejandro Llarena (154) all captured fifth place in their weights.
Magsino finished 3-2 with two pins while Gonzalez finished 3-2 with three minor decision wins, including a 3-1 overtime victory against Imperial’s Nevin Hart, the Division IV runner-up, in his first match.
Llarena finished 4-2 with all four wins coming by minor decisions.
Magsino pinned RB’s Brayden Concepcion in 2:27 for fifth place while Llarena won by a 12-6 decision over Brawley’s Preston Brewer in their fifth-place bout.
Olympian’s Jacob Neiman finished 3-2 with two pins but did not earn a medal.
Following the loss to Castillo, Gonzalez won his next match by a 10-3 decision over Carlsbad’s Samuel Wardlow to place fifth.
Overall, the Metro Conference recorded eight medalists at last weekend’s Masters tournament.
Bonita Vista’s Michael Miller placed fifth at 197 pounds with a marathon performance that included a 6-2 record with three pins. Miller had placed fourth at the preceding Division II tournament.
The Baron strong man defeated Fallbrook’s Carlos Hernandez by a 14-0 major decision to finish fifth after being pinned in 3:40 in the consolation semifinals by RB’s Nicholas Blanchard.
Mater Dei Catholic’s Javier Salas finished 3-2, as did Eastlake’s Jacobo and Hilltop’s Aguilera.
San Ysidro’s Israel Ramirez, the reigning Division I champion at 128 pounds, did not find last weekend’s Masters to his liking after finishing 2-2.
Ramirez won his opening match by a 6-2 decision over La Costa Canyon’s Gavin Guerra but dropped a 5-1 decision to Brawley’s Joey Navarro in the quarterfinals.
Ramirez staved off early elimination with a 5-1 win over El Camino’s Robert Gonzalez in the consolation wrestle-backs but suffered elimination in his next match following a 3-1 loss to Vista’s Matthew Nelson.
BV’s Cale Merton and Eastlake’s Richard Inzunza both finished 2-2 at 162 pounds. Eastlake’s Nicholas Pultorak finished 2-2 with two pins at 222 pounds while Montgomery’s Christian Venegas also finished 2-2 at the same weight.
A total of 10 Metro teams competed. Bonita Vista finished 12th in the team standings, followed by Eastlake in 16th place, Hilltop in 43rd place, Montgomery in 54th place, Mater Dei Catholic in 57th place and San Ysidro in 58th place. Castle Park, Chula Vista and Sweetwater did not score in the tournament.
