This year’s high school state wrestling championship tournament is scheduled over three days from Feb. 21-23. It should be a spotlight event.
The idea for expanding the event from two days to three days is to accommodate both the boys and girls championship tournaments under one roof at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield.
The two-day boys tournament has been a consistent draw wherever it has been held and has seemingly found a home in Bakersfield, a hot spot for the sport in the Golden State. Last year’s boys tournament attracted a two-day total attendance of 19,010.
Seating capacity at Rabobank Arena is 10,400 for general events and 8,751 for ice hockey.
Girls wrestling has grown substantially in recent years. Last year’s state finals in Visalia attracted 480 female competitors.
Placing both tournaments side by side should ensure packed stands all three days.
The state CIF’s contract with Rabobank Arena runs through 2020, so fans might expect the same arrangement next year as well.
The expansion to include both genders at a state wrestling championship event follows up on what already has been done with swimming and diving and track and field at state championship events.
The bottom line is that more motel rooms will be needed in the Bakersfield region, something that will directly impact the economy there.
State of mind
For boys wrestling, post-season competition in the San Diego Section includes two rounds of qualifying tournaments leading up to the state championship meet.
The four divisional championships on Feb. 9 will serve to seed the 24-man brackets at the San Diego Masters state-qualifying tournament on Feb. 15-16.
The top seven place-finishers at both the Division I and Division II tournaments qualify for the Masters tournament while the top six wrestlers at the Division III tournament also qualify.
The top four wrestlers at the Division IV tournament qualify for the Masters tournament.
The top four wrestlers in each weight class at the Masters finals advance to the state tournament while the top six wrestlers in each weight class receive medals.
East County mat men will compete at several venues around the section as they start the road to the state meet.
Olympian High School will host the Division I championship tournament. Helix and Patrick Henry will represent the East County region.
Fallbrook High School will host the Division II championship tournament.
Four East County schools are slated to compete: Grossmont, Valhalla, Steele Canyon and Granite Hills.
Montgomery High School will host the Division III championship tournament. Participating East County schools include El Cajon Valley, West Hills, Santana, El Capitan and Monte Vista.
St. Augustine High School will host the Division IV championship tournament. East County schools participating include Mount Miguel, Mountain Empire and Christian.
San Marcos High School will host this year’s Masters state-qualifying tournament.
Finals at the divisional tournaments are scheduled to start at 5 p.m. or later, followed by an awards ceremony. Wrestling starts at 9 a.m.
The opening day of Masters will face off at 10 a.m. while the second day of competition will start at 9:30 a.m. Finals are scheduled to start at 4 p.m. to cap the second day of competition.
Girls wrestling will hold its section finals Feb. 1-2 at Brawley High School.
Awards will be presented to the top four wrestlers at each weight class at the section tournament. The top three place-winners will qualify for the state tournament ion Bakersfield.
The state brackets have been expanded to 32 individuals for girls wrestling, so most sections received an additional qualifier, explained section girls wrestling tournament director Trevor Keifer.
In the spotlight
The El Cajon Invitational has traditionally been a mid-season showcase for the region. The 48th annual tournament took place Dec. 14-15 at San Ysidro High School.
The 2018 tournament featured a 64-man double-elimination bracket. Medals were presented from first through eighth place.
“This is San Diego County’s longest running tournament with a rich tradition,” tournament director Steve Bulette said.
The tournament traditionally attracts top teams from all over California as well as Oregon, Washington, Arizona and Nevada.
The 2018 event featured 60 teams. Three-time defending state champion Buchanan paced the field with 368 points, followed by Rancho Bernardo, the top team from the San Diego Section, in second place with 242.5 points.
Liberty, the Arizona state runners-up, finished third with 222 points, while Frontier, which placed ninth overall at last year’s California state finals, followed in fourth place with 201.5 points.
Perennial section power Poway placed fifth with 182 points.
Imperial Valley power Brawley placed ninth with 122 points.
East County teams earning team place-finishes included Steele Canyon (14th, 102.5 points), West Hills (21st, 65 points), Granite Hills (23rd, 60 points), Valhalla (30th, 52.5 points), Grossmont (38th, 34 points), Monte Vista (41st, 25.5 points), Helix (42nd, 25 points), Santana (49th, 17 points) and El Cajon Valley (50th, 16.5 points).
Top East County individuals included Steele Canyon’s Joshua Constancio (third at 285 pounds), Steele Canyon’s Ezra Cardenas (fifth at 138 pounds), Granite Hills’ Jeremiah Satberry (fifth at 182 pounds), West Hills’ Saul Sanchez (fifth at 220 pounds), Granite Hills’ Skyler Hillberg (sixth at 160 pounds), Steele Canyon’s David Lipscomb (sixth at 170 pounds) and El Cajon Valley’s Yama Safiullah (eighth at 152 pounds).
Constancio pinned Sultana’s Ethan Perez in 1:59 to earn his bronze medal.
In a pair of fifth-place matches, Cardenas won by a 6-3 decision over Bonita Vista’s Jordan Bendorf while Satberry won by an 11-9 decision over Campo Verde’s Jayden Fletcher.
Buchanan finished with six weight class champions while Rancho Bernardo recorded four individual champions.
More wrestling
West Hills finished fourth out of 18 teams at the King of Beasts tournament Dec. 29 at Mater Dei Catholic High School.
The Wolf Pack’s eight place-winners included Sanchez (first at 220), Norman Stone (second at 145), Eddie Marquis (second at 182), Justin Zingale (fourth at 126), Jake Maheu (fourth at 170), Ryan Ramage (fifth at 285), Jake Gibson (sixth at 145) and Parker Bell (sixth at 195).
Monte Vista (tied for fifth), Valhalla (eighth place), El Capitan (18th place), Santana (21st place) and Christian (29th place) all competed at the Mission Hills tournament on Jan. 5 to ring in the 2019 calendar year.
Valhalla’s Manny Aramburo won the 147-pound championship while teammate Guadalupe Garcia finished second in his 162-pound division.
Also of note, Monte Vista’s Blake Schmidt placed runner-up in the 287-pound heavyweight class.
Third-place medalists included Valhalla’s Matthew Jordan (115), Santana’s Cameron Wilson (154), El Capitan’s Cameron Horton (162) and Monte Vista’s Sebastian Valdez (222).
Other East County medalists included Monte Vista’s Jahnick De la Cruz (fourth at 115), El Capitan’s Elijah Maxcy (fifth at 147), Monte Vista’s Sebastian Garcia (fifth at 154), Monte Vista’s Logan Schmidt (fifth at 197), Valhalla’s Adam Ruiz (sixth at 134), Santana’s Anthony Maclay (seventh at 134), Monte Vista’s Jonathan San Nicolas (seventh at 162), Monte Vista’s Zahi Davis (eighth at 122), Christian’s Cameron Paulino (seventh at 140) and El Capitan’s Blaise Hunt (eighth at 134).
Consolation champions included Valhalla’s Paul Perfecto (108) and Scotty Clingan (122) along with El Capitan’s Clinton Reed (128).
Aramburo won by a 5-2 decision over Holtville’s Richard Garcia to capture his weight class title.
West Hills finished fourth at the San Pasqual Invitational on Jan. 19 while Santana placed 19th in the 23-team field.
Place-winners for the Wolf Pack included Sanchez (second at 222), Travis Byrd (third at 128), Mathias Brooks (third at 134), Stone (third at 147), Ashton McDowell (third at 162), Marquis (third at 184), Zingale (fifth at 122) and William Funes (sixth at 115).
Santana’s Wilson finished fourth at 154 pounds.
Mat showcase
Steele Canyon, Valhalla and El Capitan participated in the Battle of the Belt Tournament at Temecula High School on Jan. 11-12. The tournament is annually regarded as a preview of the upcoming state meet.
Steele Canyon finished 57th among 68 teams while Valhalla was 64th and El Capitan was 66th. Buchanan won the team title. La Costa Canyon was the highest San Diego County team in the team standings in 22nd place.
Ramona’s Jeff Ramsthaler (145) and La Costa Canyon’s Joe Curtis (182) were the highest San Diego County individual place-finishers after placing third in their respective weight classes.
