On 50th anniversary, El Cajon Invitational challenging a new generation of wrestlers

The venerable El Cajon Invitational celebrated its 50th anniversary season this year. Renowned as one of the top regional tournaments in the state and an early preview for top local mat men, the tournament took place Dec. 16-17 at Montgomery High School.

South County teams did not disappoint among the 31 scoring teams. Eastlake placed third with 166 points to lead the local contingent that also included Olympian, San Ysidro, Mar Vista, Montgomery, Hilltop and Mater Dei Catholic high schools.

The tournament overall was a showcase for the San Diego Section with the top eight scoring teams all representing the section.

Rancho Bernardo captured the team title with 322 points followed by runner-up Brawley with 230 points. Mt. Carmel finished fourth with 161 points, followed by West Hills in fifth place with 131 points, Imperial in sixth place with 115 points, Central Union in seventh place with 106 points and St. Augustine in eighth place with 105.5 points.

Among Metro Conference teams, Olympian finished in 11th place with 89 points, followed by San Ysidro in 21st place with 50 points, Mar Vista in 24th place with 42 points, Montgomery in 26th place with 35 points, Hilltop in 27th place with 31 points, Mater Dei Catholic in 30th place with 11 points

 

Top individuals
Eastlake finished the two-day tournament with seven place-finishers and three finalists, including 160-pound weight class champion Brayden Zingano (5-0), 170-pound runner-up David Mitrovich (12-3), 195-pound runner-up Alejandro Martinez (8-6).

Other Titan place-winners included: Alexander King (6-4) fourth at 132 pounds, Jyoji Ballard (7-4) fourth at 220 pounds, Leander Falucho (10-5) fifth at 145 pounds and Jace Peter (5-7) sixth at 152 pounds.

Zingano scored pins in all five of his matches to win the championship, including three in the first period and two in the second period. His fastest pin was 33 seconds in the quarterfinal against Santana’s Gage Malott.

Zingano pinned Rancho Bernardo’s Jacob Pe in 2:14 in the semifinals and San Ysidro’s Rahman Ferguson in 1:10 in the gold medal match.

Mitrovich recorded three pins in his five matches, including a 20-second fall in the opening round and s 28-second fall in the second round.

Mitrovich pinned West Hills’ Cezar Aguilar in 1:11 in the semifinals before dropping a 9-1 major decision to Rancho Bernardo’s Sunni Motas in the championship round.

Martinez pinned all three of his opening opponents before coming up short in the championship round by a 17-2 technical fall to Brawley’s Robert Platt. Martinez scored quick pins of 27 seconds in his second-round match and 23 seconds in the quarterfinals.

King had four pins in six matches while Ballard had four pins in seven matches. Falucho and Peter both collected three pins.

Olympian, the team champion at the Battle by the Beach tournament in Imperial Beach to help face off the season, did some damage on the mat with four place-winners.

Sam Costa (6-1) finished second in his 106-pound weight with two pins while Alex Sarabia (6-2) placed fifth at 113 pounds with two pins. Michael Gooden (6-5) rode four falls to an eighth-place finish in his 126-pound division while Andres Gonzalez (3-3) wrestled back from an early loss with three wins in the consolation round to eventually place eighth at 145 pounds.

San Ysidro had two wrestlers score runner-up place-finishes. Besides Ferguson, Angel Daniel Martinez  placed second at 285 pounds.

Ferguson (9-2) reached the championship round with three pins and one minor decision while Martinez (8-2) recorded two pins and a minor decision en route to a narrow 5-3 finals loss to West Hills’ Lance Briseno.

Dylan Hartley (13-5) was the highest of two place-finishers for Mar Vista in fourth place at 152 pounds while Sergio Delos Reyes (8-7) finished eighth at 106 pounds.

Hartley racked up four pins in his seven matches over two days while Delos Reyes scored a pair of falls in five mat outings.

Hilltop’s two place-finishers included Noah Heredia (13-5) in fifth place at 120 pounds and Justin Bernardo (13-6) in seventh place at 126 pounds.

Montgomery’s Esteban Gonzalez (5-2) placed fifth at 195 pounds with four pins.

 

50TH EL CAJON INVITATIONAL WRESTLING TOURNAMENT

Dec. 17-18 at Montgomery High School

106 POUNDS

1. Ricardo Ortiz (Imperial)
2. Sam Costa (Olympian)
3. Justin Martinez (Brawley)
4. Jaden Javier (Cienega)
5. Joe Jeon (Rancho Bernardo)
6. Jason Brennan (Mountain Empire)
7. Brandon Basto (Del Norte)
8. Sergio Delos Reyes (Mar Vista)

 

First place: Ortiz pinned Costa, 4:39)

Third place: Martinez dec. Javier, 11-5

Fifth place: Jeon major dec. Brennan,10-2

Seventh place: Basto defeated Delos Reyes by forfeit

 

113 POUNDS

1. Lex Ladao (Rancho Bernardo)
2. Arseel Eliya (Valhalla)
3. Felipe Martinez (Del Norte)
4. Derick Howard (Mt.Carmel)
5. Alex Sarabia (Olympian)
6. Michael Gans (Santana)
7. Ethan Anderson (Cienega)
8. Fabion Spoonemore (Shadow Hills)

 

First place: Ladao pinned Eliya, 3:57

Third place: Martinez pinned Howard, 4:48

Fifth place: Sarabia defeated Gans by forfeit

Seventh place: Anderson pinned Spoonemore, 2:22

 

120 POUNDS

1. Evan Velez (Brawley)
2. Riley Jones (El Capitan)
3. Elias Ramirez (Rancho Bernardo)
4. Hector Cabrera (Central Union)
5. Noah Heredia (Hilltop)
6. Jacob Balladarez (Shadow Hills)
7. Ronin Ramirez (Cienega)
8. Cristoforo Martinez (Del Norte)

 

First place: Velez dec. Jones, 4-0

Third place: Ramirez defeated Cabrera by forfeit

Fifth place: Heredia defeated Balladarez by injury

Seventh place: Ramirez pinned Martinez, 0:15

 

126 POUNDS

1. Jacob Jones (Rancho Bernardo)
2. Karim Allal (Brawley)
3. Dakota Nettles (Cienega)
4. Jack Ferguson (Cienega)
5. Diego Harmon (Imperial)
6. Gavin Mitchell (Madison)
7. Justin Bernardo (Hilltop(
8. Michael Gooden (Olympian)

 

First place: Jones tech fall Allal, 19-1

Third place: Nettles pinned Ferguson, 0:54

Fifth place: Harmon dec. Mitchell, 7-4

Seventh place: Bernardo pinned Gooden, 3:36

 

132 POUNDS

1. R.J. Villegas (Rancho Bernardo)
2. Santiago Pacheco (Central Union)
3. Johnny Ibanez (Vista)
4. Alexander King (Eastlake)
5. Lucas Maddalone (El Capitan)
6. Noah Calderon (Brawley)
7. Byron Cunningham (St. Augustine)
8. Jadan Fugate (Steele Canyon)

 

First place: Villegas pinned Pacheco, 4:56

Third place: Ibanez pinned King, 4:59)

Fifth place: Maddalone dec. Calderon, 3-2

Seventh place: Cunningham pinned Fugate, 3:15

 

138 POUNDS

1. Jack Harrison (Rancho Bernardo)
2. Blaze Ackerman (St. Augustine)
3. Janetzke (Mt. Carmel)
4. Nathan Sepulveda (Brawley)
5. Ames Hoevker (Helix Charter)
6. Izak Barragan (Imperial)
7. Victor Valenzuela (Imperial)
8. Brandon Kamali (Mater Dei Catholic)

 

First place: Harrison pinned Ackerman, 5:51

Third place: Janetzke major dec. Sepulveda, 10-2

Fifth place: Hoevker defeated Barragan, 10-8 (sudden victory)

Seventh place: Valenzuela pinned Kamali, 0:25

 

145 POUNDS

1. Brandon Eusebio (Rancho Bernardo)
2. Emery Holland (Mt. Carmel)
3. Felicito Numez (Shadow Hills)
4. Johnathan Kaiser (Steele Canyon)
5. Leander Falucho (Eastlake)
6. Jase Gillespie (Rancho Bernardo)
7. Caleb Ramirez (Brawley)
8. Andres Gonzalez (Olympian)

 

First place: Eusebio pinned Holland, 3:13

Third place: Felicito defeated Kaiser, 9-7 (sudden victory)

Fifth place: Falucho major dec. Gillespie, 13-4

Seventh place: Ramirez major dec. Gonzalez, 14-6

 

152 POUNDS

1. Marcus Caro (Rancho Bernardo)
2. Tyler Davis (West Hills)
3. Kevin Cheeseman (Mt.Carmel)
4. Dylan Hartley (Mar Vista)
5. Dyllan Irmen (Rancho Bernardo)
6. Jace Peter (Eastlake)
7. Max Carrizales (Canyon Hills)
8. Nicholas Patterson (El Capitan)

 

First place: Caro pinned Davis, 0:55

Third place: Cheeseman pinned Hartley, 4:42

Fifth place: Irmen dec. Peter, 11-8)

Seventh place: Carrizales pinned Patterson, 4:14

 

160 POUNDS

1. Brayden Zingano (Eastlake)
2. Rahman Ferguson (San Ysidro)
3. Lyland Calvo (Mt. Carmel)
4. Ramirez (Brawley)
5. Jacob Pe (Rancho Bernardo)
6. Jacob Jimenez-Santillan (Steele Canyon)
7. Gage Malott (Santana)
8. Ryuto Peery (Helix Charter)

 

First place: Zingano pinned Ferguson, 1:10

Third place: Calvo dec. Ramirez, 2-0

Fifth place: Pe dec. Jimenez-Santillan, 5-3

Seventh place: Malott pinned Peery, 2:06

 

170 POUNDS

1. Sunni Motas (Rancho Bernardo)
2. David Mitrovich (Eastlake)
3. Victor Gosswiller (Valhalla)
4. Samuel Gledhill (Mt. Carmel)
5. Javier Sanchez (Steele Canyon)
6. Cezar Aguilar (West Hills)
7. Nathanial Anderson (Valhalla)
8. Giancarlo Tolentino (Coastal Academy)

First place: Motas major dec. Mitrovich, 9-1

Third place: Gosswiller dec. Gledhill, 5-3

Fifth place: Sanchez pinned Aguilar, 2:24

Seventh place: Anderson dec. Tolentino, 8-5

 

182 POUNDS

1. Ryder Dearborn (West Hills)
2. Jorge Soto (Southwest)
3. Philip Castro (Brawley)
4. Nehemiah Ramirez (Shadow Hills)
5. Gavin Clark (Santana)
6. Fa`atui Schwalger (Helix Charter)
7. Santiago Holland (St. Augustine)
8. Samuel Lam (Canyon Hills)

First place: Dearborn pinned Soto, 0:16

Third place: Castro major dec. Ramirez, 8-0

Fifth place: Clark pinned Schwalger, 1:58

Seventh place: Holland defeated Lam by injury

 

195 POUNDS

1. Robert Platt (Brawley)
2. Alejandro Martinez (Eastlake)
3. Adam Avila (Imperial)
4. Juan Limon (Shadow Hills)
5. Esteban Gonzalez (Montgomery)
6. Alijah Davis (Helix Charter)
7. Marlon Sanchez (Calexico)
8. Rigoberto Mayorga (Vista)

 

First place: Platt tech fall Martinez, 17-2

Third place: Avila pinned Limon, 4:14

Fifth place: Gonzalez dec. Davis, 10-6

Seventh place: Sanchez dec. Mayorga, 5-3

 

220 POUNDS

1. Michael Hall (Canyon Hills)
2. Jordan Nodarse (Rancho Bernardo)
3. Russ Butler (Central Union)
4. Jyoji Ballard (Eastlake)
5. Mateo Carrera (Madison)
6. Robert Grohman (St. Augustine)
7. David Martinez (Brawley)
8. David Martinez (Vista)

 

First place: Hall pinned Jordan Nodarse, 1:25

Third place: Butler pinned Jyoji Ballard, 2:56

Fifth place: Carrera pinned Grohman, 2:41

Seventh place: Martinez (Brawley) pinned Martinez (Vista), 2:18

 

285 POUNDS

1. Lance Briseno (West Hills)
2. Angel Daniel Martinez (San Ysidro)
3. Diego Hernandez (Central Union)
4. Julius Diaz (Brawley)
5. Anthony Molina (Southwest)
6. Sergio Romero (Steele Canyon)
7. Ethan Nguyen (St. Augustine)
8. Aiden Astronomo (Rancho Bernardo)

 

First place: Briseno dec. Martinez, 5-3

Third place: Hernandez defeated Diaz, 5-5 (ultimate tiebreaker)

Fifth place: Molina pinned Romero, 0:34

Seventh place: Nguyen pinned Astronomo,1:30

 

1996 El Cajon Invitational Photo Gallery
By James Brammer