The road to the state wrestling tournament in Bakersfield has narrowed to this weekend’s San Diego Masters state-qualifying tournament.
The boys tournament, with 24 qualifiers in each weight class drawn from last weekend’s four divisional tournament, is scheduled Friday and Saturday, Feb. 20-21, at Olympian High School while the girls tournament, with 16 qualifiers in each weight class from four divisionals, is scheduled Saturday, Feb. 21, at Eastlake High School.
The top four wrestlers in each weight class in the boys Masters advance to the state tournament Feb. 26-28 while the top three girls at the Masters do so.
For the most part, it was a record-setting weekend for East County mat squads.
Granite Hills High School won the Division I team championship at Del Norte High School with nine individual champions, 11 finalists and 14 Masters qualifiers while Valhalla finished runner-up in the Division III tournament at Lincoln High School with three individual champions and 10 Masters qualifiers. Mountain Empire set a record with seven Masters qualifiers to go with its meteoric second-place finish in the Division IV team finals at Mar Vista High School in Imperial Beach.
Between the four divisional tournaments, East County racked up a hefty haul of 50 Masters qualifiers.
That is nothing short of impressive.
Soaring Eagles
Granite Hills has traditionally ranked among the section’s elite teams, so this year’s Division I championship came as no surprise. The Eagles topped the 19-team field with 356.5 points — well in front of runner-up Rancho Bernardo’s 239 points.
Weight class champions for Granite Hills included Cash McClurg (106 pounds), Emilio Escobar (120), Uriah Hawkins (132), Ames-Michael Hoevker (144), David Daniels (150), Aiden Chur (157), Jovanni Mansour (190), Steven Gomez (215) and Travin Shahbaz (285).
Silver medalists included Elias Pedroza (113) and Anthony Stanley (165).
The top seven place-finishers at the Division I tourney qualified to compete at Masters. Also representing Granite on the mat this weekend are Jackson Kartchner (fourth, 175), Adam Winter-Smith (fifth, 126) and Jayden Ruiz (fifth, 138) to fill out the Eagles’ full lineup.
“Winning CIF was an incredible experience for our program,” head coacvh Jesse Sheard said. “Watching these young men invest countless hours of hard work, dedication and commitment, then seeing it all pay off has been truly rewarding. We preach having Granite grit, and that really showed last weekend. Our coaching staff works hard to prepare our athletes for success, and we’re fortunate to have a tremendous support system that makes it all possible. The community continues to stand behind our program, and we’re especially grateful for our athletic director, James Davis, who consistently shows up for our athletes and makes sure our program has everything it needs to be successful.”
Helix, Grossmont and Steele Canyon also participated at the Division I finals.
Helix finished in ninth place with six Masters qualifiers: Isaiah Boelk (second, 175), J.J. Martinez (second, 215), Aiden Anselmo (fifth, 120), Kaden Bedsole (fifth, 157) and Vincente Cuervo (fifth, 165) and Xavier Jackson (seventh, 190).
Grossmont finished in 14th place with three Masters qualifiers: Maxim Kozlowski (fifth, 113), Sa Kyaw (fifth, 144), Parnelli Riley-Judd (seventh, 150).
Steele Canyon finished in 16th place with one Masters qualifier: Danial Erfani (fourth, 126).
Eighth-place finishers denoted Masters alternates. They included Grossmont’s Emmanuel Porter (106) and Steele Canyon’s Charlie Beck Winkler (132).
Orange Nation
Valhalla made it close at the Division III tournament, falling 17 points behind team champion La Costa Canyon — 240-5 to 223.5 points.
The Norsemen’s individual champions included Ivan Rivers (126), Noor Al Saedi (132) and Marcelino Nona (175)
Michael Huerta finished in second place at 165 pounds while Zachary Haggar was third at 215 pounds.
The top six place-finishers advanced to Masters from the Division III field. Additional Valhalla qualifiers included William Hypes (third, 150), Ethan Perry (fourth, 120), Abdul Baset Amiri (fourth 144), Vincent Gosswiller (fourth, 157) and Tomas Toshee (fifth, 106).
Monte Vista finished in fourth place with seven Masters qualifiers: Joshua Laverdiere (second, 1320, Christopher Garcia (second, 106), Isaiah Garcia (fourth, 150), Adrian Perez (fourth, 190), Carlos Aguilera (sixth, 126), Frankie Flores (sixth, 138) and Daygo Rios (sixth, 165).
El Cajon Valley finished in 11th place with two Masters qualifiers: Jayden Parks (second, 215) and Paul Marcelin (third, 190)
West Hills finished in 14th place with three Masters qualifiers: Jay Noriega (third, 138), Gabriele Baguio (sixth, 106) and Jordyn Gillissie-Hicks (sixth, 144).
Santana finished in 15th place with one Masters qualifier: Aland Abdulhamid (sixth, 132).
Mt. Miguel finished in 19th place with one Masters qualifier: Marcellus England (fourth, 138).
Seventh-place finishers are alternates: West Hills’ Gerald Eganhouse (120), Valhalla’s Nicholas Haggar (138) and ECV’s Aiden Dixon (285).
The Division II tournament at El Centro Southwest High School in Imperial Valley included El Capitan. The Vaqueros recorded five Masters qualifiers: Wyatt Welsh (fourth, 165), Caiden Sarff (fourth, 190), Ian Fierro (fifth, 106), Brody Cosgrove (fifth, 285), Corbin Cross (seventh 150) and alternate Kayne Eggelston (eighth, 215).
Mountain men
The three East County teams competing at the Division IV tournament represented the section’s smaller programs but produced big results with six individual weight class finalists and 10 Master qualifiers between them. Mountain Empire led the group with four finalists and one champion while Christian High School had two finalists and two Masters alternates. Liberty Charter had one Masters qualifier to add to the total.
It was a tight scramble for the top with only the top four place-finishers among the 23 scoring teams advancing to the Masters state-qualifying meet.
The Redhawks came down from the mountain to turn in a blockbuster showing at the beach.
“We got hard-working kids who stepped up, who got out and found their own off-season plan besides what I could give them,” Redhawks head coach Jason Reed said. “We really stepped up in terms of our faith this year.”
Mountain Empire finished with 162.5 points to just fall short of Holtville’s winning tally of 173.5 points. Tourney host Mar Vista was third with 117 points,
The Redhawks’ seven Masters qualifiers include Weston Kowalski (first, 150), Jackson Kowalski (second, 144), Noah Wisniew (second, 157), Maxwell Anderson (second, 175), Caleb Best (third, 138), Jason Landman (third, 190) and Ezekiel Lopez (fourth, 215).
Christian’s finalists included Samuel Larson (second, 113) and Brandon Scharer (150), both second place.
Liberty Charter’s Masters qualifier included Chris Hermez (fourth, 113).
Weston Kowalski defeated Scharer by a 24-10 major decision in an all-East County championship round.
Fifth-place alternates to Masters include Christian’s Landon Salling (132) and Tristan Rickert (190).
Mountain Empire tackled new horizons this season as a member of the Grossmont Valley League, finishing runner-up to Helix with a 4-1 dual meet record.
“We’re no joke — that’s what it says,” Reed noted.
The Redhawks program also set a new record this season with 10 girls for 31 tmembers total, including 21 boys.
