If you’re a wrestler, get ready to get your hand raised. The championship season is about to commence.
Those with the winning mindset will find success on the mat.
The San Diego Section championship tournaments in both gender fields represent the first step toward the San Diego Masters state-qualifying tournament, and ultimately the coveted state meet.
The girls section championship tournament has expanded to include three divisions. All three events are scheduled Feb. 8: Division I at Rancho Bernardo High School, Division II at Santana High School and Division III at Lincoln High School.
The top four place-finishers in each weight class at each divisional tournament will receive medals and advance to the section’s Masters tournament Feb. 21-22 at Christian High School in El Cajon.
Of the 12 female wrestlers in each weight class at the Masters tournament, the top four place-finishers will receive medals but only the top three place-finishers in each weight class will qualify to compete in the state championship tournament Feb. 27 to March 1 in Bakersfield.
Division I schools for girls wrestling include Helix, Granite Hills and Steele Canyon while Division II schools include Grossmont, Valhalla, El Capitan, Santana and El Cajon Valley. Division III schools include West Hills, Mt. Miguel, Monte Vista and Mountain Empire.
There are four divisional tournaments in the section’s boys field. All four are slated to take place Feb. 15: Division I at Olympian High School, Division II at Orange Glen High School, Division III at Ramona High School and Division IV at Madison High School.
Medals will be awarded to the top eight finishers in each weight class in Division I, the top six wrestlers in each weight class at both the Division II and Division III tournaments and the top four wrestlers in Division IV.
The boys field will include 24 wrestlers from the four divisional tournaments.
Local schools competing in Division I include Granite Hills and Helix while the Division II lineup includes Grossmont, Steele Canyon and Valhalla. Local schools competing in Division III include El Cajon Valley, El Capitan, Monte Vista, Mt. Miguel, Santana and West Hills while the Division IV field includes Christian and Mountain Empire.
Desert duel
This weekend’s Holtville Rotary Invitational in Imperial County always rates as a late season preview for league championships and the divisional finals.
Girl on Fire, believe it!
Girls wrestling is the fastest growing sport in the country. Teams continue to grow in numbers, and that includes the local level.
The inaugural Girl on Fire tournament, held Nov. 23 at Sweetwater High School, aptly addressed that with a total of 415 female wrestlers representing 42 teams in both novice and varsity divisions. The novice division totaled 244 wrestlers while the varsity division had 183 strong.
It was the first regular season girls tournament hosted at the National City school and earned recognition as largest season-opening girls tournament in San Diego Section history.
It was a big draw event, make no mistake, with seven teams traveling from the Southern Section to help provide a showcase. El Toro brought 31 participants while Imperial Valley girls giant Brawley brought 23 participants with two returners expected to do well this year: Lauren Zaragoza (sixth at state in 2024) and transfer Camille Torres (Arizona state champ).
Brawley won the varsity team championship with 196 points while El Toro was runner-up with 158 points. Chaparral (150 points), Mira Mesa (118 points) and Central Union (87 points) rounded out the top five teams.
Santana was the top East County school in eighth place with 70 points while Steele Canyon (22nd place), West Hills (25th place), Mountain Empire (27th place) and Helix (28th place) each managed top 30 team finishes.
East County wrestlers to watch included Santana’s Amber Spencer (first place, 145 pounds), Sierra Fahn (second place, 130 pounds) and Rachel Taylor (third place, 155 pounds). Steele Canyon’s Alyssa Gaxiola finished third at 170 pounds while West Hills’ Gizelle Fort placed fourth at 120 pounds.
Fahn was second at 125 pounds at last year’s Masters tournament and a returning state qualifier while Spencer was second at 145 pounds and a returning state meet qualifier.
The host Lady Red Devils saw growth with 17 girls in the wrestling room; last season Sweetwater had had five female wrestlers and just two the year before that.
Novice division champions from East County included Santana’s Marlie Salazar (120 pounds), El Capitan’s Amber Perez (130 pounds) and Bristol Dixon (190 pounds) and Steele Canyon’s Valentina Franco (145 pounds).
Whereas boys wrestling is dominated by North County programs, girls wrestling is showcased in particular by Metro Conference, East County and desert schools.
As a measure of respect, Olympian High School has won four CIF division title.
The Goddess of Olympia tournament once again proved to be the early season showcase with 62 participating schools in novice and varsity divisions.
Brawley was the varsity team champion with 276 points while Santa Ana was a close second with 269.5 points. Host Olympian was a strong third with 196 points, followed by Mira Mesa in fourth with 175.5 points and Shadow Hills in fifth place with 157 points.
Rounding out the top 10 teams were Central Union (sixth place, 145.5 points,) Ayala (seventh place, 141 points), Rancho Bernardo (eighth place, 133 points), Orange Vista (ninth place, 127.5 points) and Steele Canyon (10th place, 116 points).
Helix (18th place, 87.5 points), Granite Hills (20th place, 84.5 points), Monte Vista (21st place, 80 points) and Grossmont (25th place, 72.5 points) also had strong showings among East County schools.
Top varsity individuals among East County schools (top eight place-finishers) included Granite Hills’s Lucia Ledesma (second, 145 pounds), Santana’s Fahn (third place, 120 pounds), Steele Canyon’s Kayala Hopkins (third place, 140 pounds), Steele Canyon’s Reika Proctor (fourth place, 110 pounds), West Hills’ Fort (fourth place, 120 pounds), Granite Hills’ Jayselle Suetos (sixth place, 110 pounds), Steele Canyon’s Aiesha Sall (sixth place, 140 pounds) and Grossmont’s Olivia Stevens (seventh place, 140 pounds) and Grace Parent (seventh place, 145 pounds).
Novice division champions included Monte Vista’s Alexa Malinis )105 pounds), Helix Charter’s Mia Green (120 pounds) and Steele Canyon’s Isabel Garcia (135 pounds).
High school boys wrestling preview: El Cajon Invitational
Dec. 20-21 at Canyon Crest Academy
Top Individuals
106 POUNDS
Championship: Christopher Garcia (Monte Vista) pinned Lucas Michelsen (Cathedral Catholic) 3:08
Third place: Aiden Hernandez (San Ysidro) dec. Samuel Lawson (Christian) 18-14
Fifth place: Zane Deleon (Rancho Bernardo) defeated Steven Brown (Southwest) by medical forfeit
113 POUNDS
Championship: Noah Steele (St. Augustine) dec. Ryan Dimalanta (Rancho Bernardo) 7-1
Third place: Noah Hernandez (University City) dec. Joseph Guillen (Southwest) 8-7
Fifth place: Rayden Ray (Williams Field) pinned Liam Smith (El Capitan) 3:56
120 POUNDS
Championship: Zephyr Aubuchon (Carlsbad) dec. Shamaree Hasan (Williams Field) 11-10
Third place: Nickolas Ortiz (Brawley) defeated Brandon Basto (Del Norte) by injury default
Fifth place: Benjamin Limentang (Brawley) dec. Kai Duckworth (Scripps Ranch) 12-7
126 POUNDS
Championship: Izayah Magdaleno (Williams Field) tech fall Connor O’Balle (Carlsbad) 19-1
Third place: Elisha Hosseini (Scripps Ranch) pinned Esteban Plasencia (St. Augustine) 0:44
Fifth place: Luca Antonelli (Torrey Pines) defeated Diego Gonzalez Suarez (Rancho Buena Vista) by disqualification
132 POUNDS
Championship: Roman Zelenka (Carlsbad) tech fall Riley Jones (El Capitan) 22-7
Third place: Gavin Mitchell (Madison) major dec. Ivan Rivers (Valhalla) 12-4
Fifth place: Anthony Juarez (Brawley) major dec. Payton Mixon (Guajome Park) 14-1
138 POUNDS
Championship: Gabriel Pacheco (Central Union) tech fall Braeden Steele (St. Augustine) 17-2
Third place: David Martinez (Castle Park) dec. Abas Safi (Valhalla) 6-4
Fifth place: Zach Peters (Williams Field) defeated Russell Henzie (El Capitan) by forfeit
144 POUNDS
Championship: Carlos Miranda (Williams Field) major dec. Regfan Nael (Valhalla) 9-0
Third place: Caleb Benevides (Brawley) pinned David Bereshnyi (University City) 2:13
Fifth place: Adam Subel (Torrey Pines) pinned Luke Wyborney (St. Augustine) 2:04
150 POUNDS
Championship: Sergio Juvera (Williams Field) dec. Langdon Mullica (Westview) 4-1
Third place: Michael Cantor (University City) pinned Jack Hamilton (Scripps Ranch) 2:23
Fifth place: Joseph Zaky (Vista) pinned Jose Mendoza (Southwest) 2:06
157 POUNDS
Championship: Ali Elasfia (Williams Field) defeated Leo Pedregal (Eastlake) in sudden victory 4-1
Third place: Carmine Martinez pinned Jordan Mignosi (Coastal Academy) 2:09
Fifth place: Evan Rodriguez (Cathedral Catholic) defeated Conner Perry (Pt. Loma) by medical forfeit
165 POUNDS
Championship: Nathan Torres (Brawley) dec. Julian Cordova (Southwest) 7-2
Third place: Weston Druckerman (West Hills) tech fall Kaleb Aldrete (Mountain Empire) 17-1
Fifth place: Preston Cash (El Capitan) defeated Brandon Kamali (Eastlake) by forfeit
175 POUNDS
Championship: Adam Avila (Brawley) dec. Marcelino Nona (Valhalla) 7-4
Third place: Adrian Garcia (San Diego) defeated Spencer Ferguson (Rancho Bernardo) in sudden victory 12-9
Fifth place: Johnathan Chisamore (West Hills) major dec. Wyatt Welsh (El Capitan) 18-7
190 POUNDS
Championship: Marko Dzodzo (Torrey Pines) pinned David Martinez (Vista) 1:47
Third place: Powerful Land (Hoover) dec. Abraham Kramer (Williams Field) 5-3
Fifth place: Ivan Venegas (Montgomery) dec. Jason Landman (Mountain Empire) 10-6
215 POUNDS
Championship: Ryan Stadtherr (Scripps Ranch) pinned Sean Scouler (Vista) 0:59
Third place: Jayden Parks (El Cajon Valley) dec. Caiden Sarff (El Capitan) 8-1
Fifth place: Eneas Paredes (Steele Canyon) defeated Paul Marcelin (El Cajon Valley) by medical forfeit
285 POUNDS
Championship: Evan Perez (St. Augustine) dec. Collin Campbell (Williams Field) 11-9
Third place: Jaidon Samuels (Del Norte) pinned Anthony Saavedra (San Ysidro) 3:34
Fifth place: Luis Mejia (Montgomery) pinned Preston Cortez (West Hills) 0:13
Top Teams
1. Williams Field 262.5
2. Brawley 171.5
3. St. Augustine 150.5
4. El Capitan 145.5
5. Scripps Ranch 145
6. Carlsbad 123.5
7. Rancho Bernardo 106
8. Valhalla 106
9. Southwest 98
10. Torrey Pines 95
11. Monte Vista 89
12. Eastlake 85.5
13. West Hills 83.5
14. University City 82
15. Vista 73
16. Del Norte 71
17. Cathedral Catholic 69
18. Steele Canyon 68.5
19. Mountain Empire 63
20. San Ysidro 63
21. Christian 585.
22. Westview 48
23. Castle Park 47
24. Guajome Park 45
25. Santana 44.5
26. Rancho Buena Vista 43
27. Montgomery 42.5
28. Mt. Miguel 37
29. San Diego 37
30. Pt. Loma 36
31. Coastal Academy 34.5
32. Mar Vista 31.5
33. Madison 30
34. El Cajon Valley 29
35. Hoover 28.5
36. Crawford 28
37. Central Union 26.5
38. Grossmont 21.5
39. Mater Dei Catholic 20
40. Sweetwater 18.5
41. Palo Verde 12
42. Chula Vista 7
43. Canyon Crest Academy 4
Girls on Fire Tournament Varsity Division Results
100 POUNDS
Championship: Hope Long (Scripps Ranch) pinned Eliana Martinez (Paloma Valley)
Third place: Mahea’ani Manibusan (Mira Mesa) pinned Kaitlyn Jaimes (El Toro)
105 POUNDS
Championship: Leila Rivera (El Toro) pinned Savanah Miller (El Toro)
Third place: Kaylaya Morgan (Valley Center) pinned Jasmine Favela (Brawley)
110 POUNDS
Championship: Jennifer Favela (Brawley) tech fall Madison Ramirez (Chaparral) 18-2
Third place: Marie Gil (San Pasqual) pinned Keira Grantham (Otay Ranch)
115 POUNDS
Championship: Brelynn Smith (Chaparral) pinned Airu Kawashiro (Olympian)
Third place: Julyssa Arce (Brawley) pinned Ellie Diaz (El Toro)
120 POUNDS
Championship: Caroline Collins (Carlsbad) pinned Kylie Young (Valley Center)
Third place: Audrina Beltran (Central Union) pinned Gizelle Fort (West Hills)
125 POUNDS
Championship: Brianna Ross (San Marcos) dec. Arabella Rascon (Central Union) 7-0
Third place: Skyler Ellingworth (Chaparral) pinned Chloe Sampson (Mira Mesa)
130 POUNDS
Championship: Lauren Zaragoza (Brawley) dec. Sierra Fahn (Santana) 3-0
Third place: Chloe Hervas (San Marcos) pinned Keimora Strand (Mira Mesa)
135 POUNDS
Championship: Camille Torres (Brawley) won by injury default over Lily Rodriguez (Central Union)
Third place: Adriana Rebar (Mira Mesa) pinned Analiese Kyei (Scripps Ranch)
140 POUNDS
Championship: Annabelle Reed (Chaparral) pinned Jazmyne Mora (Lincoln)
Third place: Fanix Ortiz (Brawley) pinned Jamie Barron (Paloma Valley)
145 POUNDS
Championship: Amber Spencer (Santana) pinned Aeisha Ortiz (Brawley)
Third place: Isabel Manalansan (Mira Mesa) pinned Hadesha Osborn (Chaparral)
155 POUNDS
Championship: Alyssa Campos (Chaparral) pinned Melissa Moreno (Paloma Valley)
Third place: Rachel Taylor (Santana) pinned Ariana Enriquez (Chula Vista)
170 POUNDS
Championship: Milagros Tellez (Brawley) pinned Michael Uselding (El Toro)
Third place: Alyssa Gaxiola (Steele Canyon) pinned Krista Ghosh (Valley Center)
190 POUNDS
Championship: Scarlet Strike (El Toro) pinned Chelsea Garcia (Sultana)
Third place: Siana Valentine (Liberty Winchester) pinned Valerie Cervantes (San Pasqual)
235 POUNDS
Championship: Angel Hill (Mira Mesa) pinned Dianna Duarte (San Marcos)
Third place: Grace Romo (El Toro) pinned Lizbeth Guardado-Santiago (Lincoln)
TOP TEAMS
1. Brawley 196 points, 2. El Toto 158, 3. Chaparral 150, 4. Mira Mesa 118, 5. Central Union 87, 6. Paloma Valley 84, 7. San Marcos 74, 8. Santana 70, 9. Valley Center 57, 10. Scripps Ranch 45, 11. Sultana 43, 12. San Pasqual 41, 13. Liberty (Winchester) 37, 14, Lincoln 36.15. Mater Dei Catholic 35, 16. Calexico 34, 17. Mission Hills 31, 18. Carlsbad 28, 19. Chula Vista 27, 20. University City 27, 21. Olympian 24, 22. Steele Canyon 24, 23. Otay Ranch 22, 24. Del Norte 18, 25. West hills 18, 26. Eastlake 17, 27. Mountain Empire 15, 28. Helix 14, 29. Bonita Vista 13, 30. Castle Park 12, 31. Buena park 10, 32. El Capitan 10, 33. Mater Dei 9, 34. Crawford 9, 35. Imperial 7, 36. Sweetwater 6, 37. Mar Vista 4, 38. Montgomery 4, 39. RBV 4, 40. El Cajon Valley 3
Monte Vista Varsity Invitational
Jan. 11 at Monte Vista High School
EAST COUNTY PLACE-WINNERS
10 pounds: 4. Ian Fierro (El Capitan), 5. London McPherson (Santana), 6. Ezekiel Memdilla (Mt. Miguel)
117 pounds: 4. Julius Bey (Helix), 6. Liam Smith (Helix)
124 pounds: 1. Gerald Eganhouse (West Hills), 3. Isaac Wilson (El Capitan)
136 pounds: 2. Riley Jones (El Capitan), 3. Ivan Rivers (Valhalla)
142 pounds: 2. Kaden Bedsole (Helix), 3. Abas Safi (Valhalla)
148 pounds: 3. Alexander Resico (Grossmont), 6. Tyson Seeger (Steele Canyon)
154 pounds: 4. Ty Pope (Mt. Miguel), 5. George Spears (El Capitan)
161 pounds: 5. Preston Cash (El Capitan)
169 pounds: 1. Weston Druckerman (West Hills), 2. Gage Malott (Santana)
179 pounds: 1. Marcelino Nona (Valhalla), 5. Johnathan Chisamore (West Hills)
219 pounds: 2. Jayden Parks (El Cajon Valley), 4. Daniel DiCroce (Santana), 5. Ebneas Paredes (Steele Canyon), 6. Caiden Sarff (El Capitan)
Top teams: 6. El Capitan 154.5 points, 7. West Hills 131, 9. Valhalla 97.5, 11. Santana 94.5, 13. Helix 86, 17. Grossmont 65, 19. Steele Canyon 56, 20. Mt. Miguel 43, 24. Christian 38.5, 25. Monte Vista 36, 28. El Cajon Valley 32, 37. Liberty Charter 7
