The 2018-19 high school wrestling season faced off Dec. 1 with tournaments at Mar Vista and Carlsbad high schools.
East County teams made an opening statement at both events.
The Steele Canyon Cougars and Granite Hills Eagles finished third and fourth, respectively, at the Mar Vista tournament, now officially named the Bud Harbin Battle by the Beach.
Four of the top 10 mat squads attending the Imperial Beach tournament were from the Grossmont Conference as Grossmont finished in eighth place and Monte Vista finished in 10th place.
The 2018-19 high school wrestling season faced off Dec. 1 with tournaments at Mar Vista and Carlsbad high schools.
East County teams made an opening statement at both events.
The Steele Canyon Cougars and Granite Hills Eagles finished third and fourth, respectively, at the Mar Vista tournament, now officially named the Bud Harbin Battle by the Beach.
Four of the top 10 mat squads attending the Imperial Beach tournament were from the Grossmont Conference as Grossmont finished in eighth place and Monte Vista finished in 10th place.
West Hills finished fifth and Helix was 11th at the Carlsbad Invitational.
Battle by the Beach
Six East County wrestlers captured individual weight class titles, among then Steele Canyon’s Logan Robinson (106 pounds), Grossmont’s Sebastian Coates (132), Steele Canyon’s Ezra Cardenas (138) and David Lipscomb (170), and Granite Hills’ Jeremiah Satberry and Damian Hidalgo (220).
Additionally, four other Grossmont Conference mat men finished runner-up in their respective weight classes.
Recording second-place finishes were Granite Hills’ Joshua Ryan (113) and Bailey Christian (138), Monte Vista’s Noah Lambert (195) and Steele Canyon’s Joshua Constancio (285).
Robinson pinned Holtville’s Donovan Johnston in 5:13 to capture the 106-pound championship while Coates pinned Poway’s William Walden in 1:21 in the 132-pound final.
Cardenas won by an 8-6 decision over Christian to claim the 138-pound title while Lipscomb pinned Olympian’s Rylen Gregorio in 3:24 to win the 170-pound title.
Satberry won by a 3-2 decision over Olympian’s Tyshawn Anderson in the 182-pound final while Hidalgo recorded a 5-2 decision over Bonita Vista’s Michael Miller in the 220-pound final.
Among finalists, Ryan dropped an 11-1 major decision to Olympian’s Zach Ikaika Ramos in the 113-pound championship match while Lambert lost by a 10-6 decision to Olympian’s John Johnson at 195 pounds.
Constancio lost by a 1:42 pin to returning state meet qualifier Luis Castro of Olympian in the heavyweight final.
Castro earned the most outstanding upper weight award at the Mar Vista tournament.
Lipscomb is another returning state meet qualifier after placing second in his weight class at last season’s San Diego Section Masters state-qualifying tournament.
The top four place-finishers in each weight class at last season’s section Masters tournament advanced to the state meet.
Constancio will be out to qualify this season after finishing fifth at last season’s Masters.
Third-place medalists at this year’s Mar Vista tourney included Steele Canyon’s Emilio Bilbo (113), Granite Hills’ Bryce Christian (145) and Grossmont’s Darryn White (285).
Olympian won the team title with 217 points, followed by Patrick Henry with 205.5 points.
Steele Canyon finished third in the team standings with 156 points, closely followed by Granite Hills in fourth place with 154.5 points.
Grossmont recorded 83 points while Monte Vista had 68 points.
Other top 10 team finishers included Bonita Vista in fifth place with 115.5 points, Poway in sixth place with 95 points, San Ysidro in seventh place with 88 points and Holtville in ninth place with 77 points.
Carlsbad Invitational
Three East County wrestlers recorded runner-up finishes in their weight classes at the Carlsbad Invitational: El Cajon Valley’s Yama Safiullah at 162 pounds, Helix’s Alejandro Wilk at 147 pounds and West Hills’ Saul Sanchez at 222 pounds.
West Hills recorded eighth place-finishers overall.
Joining Sanchez on the medal stand were teammates Dvir Mona (fourth at 162), Norm Stone (fifth at 154), Ashton McDowell (fifth at 162), Jake Maheu (fifth at 173), Parker Bell (sixth at 197), Ever Dearborn (seventh at 140) and Justin Zingale (eighth at 128).
For Helix, Isaiah Graves finished at 115 pounds while Ty Dean won the consolation championship at 154 pounds.
Sanchez finished sixth at last year’s section Masters finals.
Mira Mesa won the team title with 221 points, followed by runner-up Brawley with 174 points, third place Santiago with 128.5 points, fourth place Poway with 116 points and West Hills in fifth place with 108 points.
Helix finished with 63.5 points, trailing sixth place Scripps Ranch (83.5 points), seventh place Ramona (71 points), eighth place Carlsbad (70 points), ninth place Hilltop (67.5 points) and 10th place Escondido (66.5 points).
Helix finished just 7.5 points out of seventh place as five teams were tightly bunched in the team standings.
