The Metro Conference’s collection of boys and girls wrestling teams didn’t fare too badly at this year’s San Diego Section divisional championship tournaments with nine finalists and four weight class champions in the boys field and five finalists and three weight class champions in the girls field.
The conference will have a presence at this weekend’s state championship tournament in Bakersfield with six qualifiers — four boys and two girls — following competition in last weekend’s San Diego Section Masters tournament at Southwest El Centro High School.
Not too shabby, indeed.
Leading the boys contingent to the Central Valley are Montgomery 215-pounder Esteban Sanchez, Hilltop 120-pounder Justin Bernardo, Chula Vista 285-pounder Alejandro Scolari and Bonita Vista 120-pounder Josue Garcia.
State qualifiers in the girls field include Olympian 125-pounder Alina Solis and Olympian 155-pounder Natalia Righellis.
The trip to the state meet is a first for everyone except Solis, who is now a three-time CIF champion and a three-time state qualifier.
Road to state
The Masters tournament featured qualified wrestlers from 72 schools in both genders and took place last Friday and Saturday. The 24-man boys brackets were derived from the top eight place-finishers from the preceding Division I tournament, the top six place-finishers from the preceding Division II and Division III tournaments and the top four place-finishers from the preceding Division IV tournament.
From those 24 qualifiers in each weight class, only the top four wrestlers earned advancement to the state meet, which began Thursday and concludes Saturday.
The Masters girls tournament, which took place last Saturday, featured eight-person weight classes, with the top three place-finishers in each weight division advancing to the state meet.
This year’s Masters state-qualifying field is thus quite elite.
Duel in the desert
Among the Metro boys state-qualifiers, Sanchez, the Division III boys champion, finished second, while Bernardo, the Division III runner-up, and Scolari, the Division II runner-up, each placed third. Garcia, the Division II champion, was fourth.
•Sanchez (30-3) reeled off three consecutive pins to advance to the 215-pound championship match against Poway’s Robert Platt. The Aztec mat warrior pinned Rancho Bernardo’s Anak Rodriguez in 34 seconds in his first match, then pinned Central Union’s Isaiah Aguirre in 2:00 in the quarterfinals.
Sanchez recorded his third consecutive first-period fall when he pinned St. Augustine’s Robert Grohman in 1:15 in the semifinals.
Platt got the better of Sanchez in the finals with a 1:38 pin.
•Bernardo (38-5) won his opening two matches — 18-2 technical fall over Monte Vista’s Zubair Robinson and 18-9 major decision over Carlsbad’s Roman Zelenka — before being pinned by Poway’s Robert Jones in 4:45 in the semifinals. Bernardo recovered with a 19-4 tech fall against Christian’s Damian Jones (Division IV champion) in the consolation semifinals to advance to the bronze medal match against BV’s Garcia.
The third-place match proved to be a rematch of the pair’s Metro Conference finals encounter. Bernardo reversed that earlier 8-2 loss with an 8-6 win at Masters.
•Scolari (36-3) took a more twisting route to the state meet. After recording a 6-1 decision over Grossmont’s Caleb Smith in his first match, the CV heavyweight dropped a 7-5 decision to El Cajon Valley’s Enrique Hernandez (Division III champion) in his next match to fall to the single-elimination wrestle-backs.
Scolari won his next two high-stakes matches — 3:00 fall against Central Union’s Diego Hernandez and 6-3 decision over Madison’s Najon Gillespie — to reach the consolation semifinals with a chance to strike paydirt by advancing to the third-place match with a win.
Scolari slipped past Scripps Ranch’s Ryan Standherr, 3-2, in heroic Spartan fashion to secure a state-qualifying berth. The rest was topping on the cake with a medical forfeit over Hernandez.
•Garcia, who finished 3-2 at Masters, recorded a 2:42 fall against Escondido’s Nikki Cuevas in the second round, a 4-3 decision over Christian’s Jones in the quarterfinals and a 6-5 win over Zelenka in the consolation semifinals. Other than the loss to Bernardo, Garcia’s other loss at Masters was by a narrow 8-7 margin to Brawley’s Ricardo Ortiz in the semifinals.
Among the Metro girls state qualifiers, Solis, the Division I champion, was among the gender field’s 14 weight class champions at Masters while Righellis, the Division I champion, finished third in the section field.
Solis went 3-0 at Masters with a 9-1 decision over Oceanside’s Rita Hazzard in the quarterfinals, a 10-4 decision over Torrey Pines’ Ruby Julien-Newson in the semifinals and a 2:52 pin of Santana’s Sierra Fahn in the championship match.
Righellis went 3-1 at Masters, starting with a 2:29 pin over Hilltop’s Debora Velazaquez in the quarterfinals. The Lady Eagle saw her trip to the finals sidetracked by a loss to 3:20 fall to Vista’s Jailyn Camacho, however.
Righellis counted with a 1:14 pin of Granite Hills’ Peyton Wells in the consolation semifinals to advance to the winner-take-all third place match. Righellis pinned Steele Canyon’s Aubrey Gaona in 1:42 to secure the final state-qualifying berth in the weight class by claiming the bronze medal.
Pin to win
Sanchez was among three Montgomery finalists and two Aztec weight class champions at the Division III tournament. Jose Aspericueta won the 157-pound title while Joel Maya was the runner-up at 190 pounds.
“Those three kids worked hard all year,” Montgomery coach David Jarumayan said of the Aztecs’ CIF finalists. “All the kids have worked hard all year. The last few weeks, they’ve picked up the intensity. We’ve been stressing goals all year.”
“It feels good,” Sanchez said. “It’s been my goal. It’s a huge accomplishment. It’s what wrestling is all about.”
“It’s amazing, so amazing,” offered Aspericueta, who finished 1-2 at Masters with an 8-4 loss to Eastlake’s Leo Pedregal.
Hilltop coach Thomas Juarez called it a “really successful season” for Bernardo.
“He had to overcome some adversity to get where he wanted,” Juarez said.
Olympian led the conference with 13 Masters qualifiers — eight girls and five boys.
San Diego Section Masters State-Qualifying Tournament
Feb. 16-17 at Southwest El Centro High School
Boys Wrestling
(Top four qualify for state)
Second Place
215 pounds: Esteban Sanchez (Montgomery)
Third Place
120 pounds: Justin Bernardo (Hilltop)
285 pounds: Alejandro Scolari (Chula Vista)
Fourth Place
120 pounds: Josue Garcia (Bonita Vista)
Fifth Place
165 pounds: Brayden Zingano (Eastlake)
Sixth Place
157 pounds: Leo Pedregal (Eastlake)
Top teams: 1. Poway 410.5, 2. Granite Hills 269, 3. Brawley 163, 4. Rancho Bernardo 129.5, 5. La Costa Canyon 117.5, 6. Carlsbad 91, 7. Mira Mesa 89.5, 8. Holtville 84.5, 9. Imperial 83, 10. St. Augustine 77
Girls Wrestling
(Top three qualify for state)
First Place
125 pounds: Alina Solis (Olympian)
Third Place
155 pounds: Natalia Righellis (Olympian)
Fourth Place
105 pounds: Natasha Mason (Olympian)
140 pounds: Vania Victoria (Olympian)
235 pounds: Elisa Najera (Olympian)
Top teams: 1. Brawley 124, 2. Poway 90, 3. Olympian 72, 4. Mir3a Mesa 58, 6. Rancho Bernardo 50.5, 7. San Marcos 44.5, 8. Vista 39.5, 9. (tie) Central Union, Granite Hills 39, 11. (tie) Santana, Steele Canyon 34
Combined scores (both gender fields): 1. Poway 501.5, 2. Granite Hills 310, 3. Brawley 287. Others: 11. Olympian 86, 21. Chula Vista 44, 28. Montgomery 39, 30. Bonita Vista 37, 33. Eastlake 30.5, 40. Hilltop 23, 46. Otay Ranch 18.5, 47. Mar Vista 17, 59. Southwest 7, 60. Castle Park 6
