The San Diego Section’s girls wrestling championships took place last Saturday with a decidedly glamorous East County walk down the medals runway.
The top four place-winners in each 16-person weight class were awarded medals for their toil on the mat.
Eleven Grossmont Conference mat women walked off the awards stand with shiny prizes at the Division I tournament at San Pasqual High School while eight more did so at the Division II finals in Brawley.
Among them were four weight class champions: West Hills’ Kayla Lim (123 pounds, Division II), Grossmont’s Kyli Stanley (145 pounds, Division I), Steele Canyon’s Faith Manis (191 pounds, Division I) and El Cajon Valley’s Valeria Rocha (237 pounds, Division II).
Six more East County grapplers captured second-place medals: Grossmont’s Chloe Tolentino (118 pounds, Division I), Valhalla’s Alexa Davis (128 pounds, Division I), Steele Canyon’s Elizabeth LeNoir (139 pounds, Division I), Santana’s Amber Spencer (139 pounds, Division II), Santana’s Samantha Trujillo-Mata (145 pounds, Division II) and Steele Canyon’s Kennedi Jones (237 pounds, Division I).
Bronze medalists included Steele Canyon’s Bella Sevillano (103 pounds, Division I), Mount Miguel’s Emma Contreras (152 pounds, Division II), West Hills’ Marina Morales (162 pounds, Division II) and West Hills’ Samiya Wright (191 pounds, Division II),
Fourth-place finishers included Grossmont’s Evelyn Escobedo (113 pounds, Division I), Steele Canyon’s Brooke Meiers (128 pounds, Division I), Steele Canyon’s Aubrey Gaona (152 pounds, Division I), Grossmont’s Melony Hernandez Galena (172 pounds, Division I) and Mount Miguel’s Serenaety Terry (237 pounds, Division II).
Also earning place-finishes were Steele Canyon’s Allison Mittry (fifth place,172 pounds), Granite Hills’ Victoria Ancheta (sixth place, 128 pounds) and Steele Canyon’s Alani Trudgeon (sixth place, 145 pounds) at the Division I tournament and Mount Miguel’s Pebbles Ayala (fifth, 118 pounds), El Capitan’s Izabelle Vasquez (fifth place, 172 pounds), Mountain Empire’s Genesis Tani (fifth place, 191 pounds), Santana’s Destiny Vega (sixth place, 133 pounds), El Capitan’s Peyton Wells (sixth place, 162 pounds), at the Division II tournament.
The top four place-winners in each weight class at each tournament qualified to compete in Friday’s San Diego Section Masters state-qualifying tournament at Alliant University. Each weight class will include eight wrestlers — four each from the Division I and Division II tournaments.
The opening round is slated to start at 1 p.m. Championship and consolation rounds are scheduled for 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.
The top three place-winners in each weight class at the Masters tournament qualify to compete in the state championship tournament Feb. 24-26 in Bakersfield. The top four place-winners in the Masters field will receive medals.
“Steele had a really good showing this year,” said Lady Cougars coach Trebor Keifer. “We had eight placers, with six advancing on to the Masters meet and two alternates. We did bring home a CIF champion, Faith Manis, a junior.
“I’m really proud of how the girls performed. Hopefully, we’ll punch a couple of tickets to the state championships at the Masters meet on Friday.
“Overall, the tournament team really well. The quality of competition is continuing to grow. Between the two divisions, it’s good to see the Grossmont Conference winning medals and making an impact.
West Hills coach Mike Proctor agreed.
“We’re so proud of how all our girls did at CIF,” Proctor said. “Kayla Lim was absolutely on fire all day. She had the fastest pain in the tournament at 12 seconds for her first match, pinned her second opponent in 52 seconds and had a dominating performance in the finals with a 13-7 victory over a super tough opponent from Ramona High School. She is only the second female CIF champion West Hills has ever had.
“At 160 pounds Marina Morales also had a fantastic day of wrestling. Her only loss of the day was to the girl from Valley Center who ended up taking first place in the tournament. Marina took third place and is excited for a potential rematch at the Masters tournament this week.
“At 191 pounds Samiya Wright, a sophomore first year wrestler, really stepped up and with a couple upset victories took third place and earned her spot at the Masters tournament this week. Overall, I could not be more proud as a coach.”
Golden girls
•Stanley pinned San Pasqual’s Briana Le in 4:27 to win her weight class title. The Lady Foothiller racked up pins in all three of her trips to the mat, including first period falls of 1:07 in the quarterfinals and 1:17 in the semifinals.
•Manis pinned Rancho Buena Vista’s Kiley McClain in 40 seconds to claim her gold medal. Manis scored two pins in her two matches in the tournament.
•Lim captured a 13-7 decision over Ramona’s Hannah Gonzalez to win her weight division. Lim finished the tourney 3-0 with two first-period pins (12 and 53 seconds).
•Rocha pinned Montgomery’s Evelynn Coronado in 2:15 to wrap up her individual CIF championship. Rocha finished 3-0 with three pins, including first period falls of 41 and 30 seconds in preliminary rounds.
Muster roll
Thirty teams were entered in the Division I finals. Olympian won the tournament team championship with 211 points over runner-up Mira Mesa (190 points).
Steele Canyon (third place, 145.5 points), Grossmont (fourth place, 80 points), Valhalla (20th place, 26 points) and Granite Hills (26th place, 15 points) all participated at the Division I finals.
Thirty-three teams were entered in the Division II finals. Host Brawley captured the team title with 240 points, followed by Mt. Carmel in second place with 128.5 points.
Participating East County teams included West Hills (eighth, 60 points), Santana (10th place, 54.5 points), Mount Miguel (16th place, 38 points), El Cajon Valley (tied for 17th place, 28 points), El Capitan (24th place, 16 points), Mountain Empire (28th place, 10 points) and Monte Vista (30th place, four points).
The section’s boys wrestling championship tournaments are scheduled this Saturday, Feb. 12, at four sites: Rancho Bernardo High School (Division I), Poway High School (Division II), Ramona High School (Division III) and Valley Center High School (Division IV).
