It’s said that all good things must come to an end, and the ending to the 2022-23 high school wrestling season for the Granite Hills Eagles was indeed memorable.
With 11 wrestlers in tow (nine boys, two girls) to the three-day state championship tournament in Bakersfield, the Eagles had two wrestlers place – juniors Collin Guffey (second, 152 pounds) and Abram Cline (third, 106 pounds) – while recording a ninth-place team finish overall.
“Our team had a pretty good state tournament,” Granite Hills coach Jesse Sheard offered. “We placed ninth, the first time since 1986 that Granite Hills placed in the top 10 at state.”
The Eagles placed second in the team standings to perennial state powerhouse Poway at the preceding San Diego Masters state qualifying boys tournament, so something was in the works.
Poway finished runner-up at the state meet to Buchanan.
Rancho Bernardo was the only other section team to break into the final top 20 team standings in 13th place with 50 points and three state medalists.
Buchanan, with 10 state place winners, tallied 244 points. Poway, with eight state placers, finished second with 202.5 points — not exactly a gulf behind the state champions.
Guffey, among 21 East County qualifiers, became a back-to-back state placer with his runner-up finish to state champion Beau Mantanona from Palm Desert after finishing fifth as a sophomore. Guffey, the Division II section champion and first-place finisher at the ensuing Masters tournament, was seeded second in his weight class at the state tournament to top-seeded Mantanona.
The Granite Hills standout pinned Clovis’ Samuel Chacon in 2:21 in the Round of 32 and followed with a 2:35 pin in the Round of 16 against Dublin’s Henry Baalman.
The competition got noticeably stiffer from there. Guffey recorded a 12-4 major decision over Northview’s Jacob Salcedo, seeded seventh, in the quarterfinals and recorded a tight 2-0 decision over Gilroy’s Maxximus Martinez, seeded third. Guffey lost by a slim 2-0 decision to Mantanona in the championship match.
Cline entered this year’s state tournament ranked first in his weight class and was seeded second in the state tournament. He became a first-time state medalist with his third-place finish. He shut out Porterville’s Zach Klarcyk with a 10-0 major decision in the Round of 32 and followed with a 12-0 shutout by major decision against Los Angeles Birmingham’s Henry Aslykian in the Round of 16.
After recording a 5-2 decision over St. John Bosco’s Sean Wilcox in the quarterfinals, Cline suffered a loss by 3:23 fall to top-seeded Clarence Moore of Branham to keep him out of the championship round.
Cline battled third-seeded Thunder Lewis of Clovis in the third-place match, winning by a 10-3 decision. Cline entered this year’s Masters tournament with a 26-4 record with 15 pins.
Overall, four Eagles reached the so-called blood round – the consolation semifinals where the winner is assured a top eight finish and a state medal and the loser goes home knowing they put up a good fight in placing among the top 12 wrestlers in their weight class.
Carlo Arreola (113 pounds, Division II champion), J.J. Suetos (126 pounds, Division II champion) and Devon Wells (138 pounds, Division II champion) all finished with 4-2 marks in six matches in the boys field while Kyli Stanley (133 pounds, Masters runner-up) finished 2-2 in four matches in the girls field to earn honorable mention accolades.
Ryan Carroll (145 pounds, Division II champion) finished 2-2 in the boys tournament while Peyton Wells (160 pounds, third place Masters) finished 1-2 in the girls tournament.
“The boys and girls wrestled well,” the Granite Hills coach said. “I was excited to see them go out there and compete with the top athletes in the state. It showed them that all their hard work and dedication in the off season pays off.”
Mat attack
Monte Vista freshman Olivia Davis led East County mat women with a third-place medal at 137 pounds in the girls tournament after recording a third place showing at the preceding Division II section tournament and first-place medal at the Masters tournament.
West Hills sent three wrestlers to the state meet: Ryder Dearborn (184 boys), Lance Briseno (287 boys) and Kayla Lim (128 girls). None medaled but all three represented themselves and their school well with honor, according to coach Mike Proctor.
“I am glad to share that Lance and Kayla both had two hard fought close matches — unfortunately, they each lost both of those matches,” Proctor said. “Kayla, being a junior this year, is looking forward to returning as a senior with her eyes set on a medal.
“After losing his first match, Ryder came back strong with two sub 30-second pins and avenged a loss from earlier in the season with a huge 7-1 win over a fantastic wrestler from Gilroy High School. Ryder was knocked out of the tournament just one match away from the medal rounds.”
The San Diego Section finished the boys tournament with two individual state champions: Poway’s Lucas Condon at 170 pounds and Brawley’s Robert Platt at 195 pounds. Poway’s Laird Root (145 pounds) and Angelo Posada (160 pounds) both finished second in their weights.
Poway’s place-winners also included Paul Kelly (third, 138 pounds), Billy Townson (fourth, 120 pounds), Edwin Sierra (fifth, 113 pounds), Aliksandr Kikiniou (eighth, 152 pounds) and Adam Farha (eighth, 287 pounds).
Rancho Bernardo’s place-winners included Brandon Eusebio (third, 132 pounds), Jacob Jones (sixth, 120 pounds) and Marcus Caro (seventh, 145 pounds).
Granite’s Guffey and Cline were among 14 section medalists in the boys field.
The San Diego section totaled eight medalists overall in the girls tournament with Brawley leading section teams with a 12th-place finish. There were no individual champions in the group, however.
Also securing a third-place medal was La Costa Canyon’s Alexandra Perez (180) while Poway’s Alejandra Valdiviezo (121) placed fourth. Fifth-place medals went to RBV’s Kayla Edwards (126) and Brawley’s Delarie Juarez (131). Mira Mesa’s Brita McCaskill (106) and RBV’s Kiley McClain (160) both secured seventh-place medals while Mt. Carmel’s Melanie Haslip (150) finished eighth.
San Diego Masters East County State Meet Qualifiers
Boys Wrestlers
FIRST PLACE
108: Abram Cline (Granite Hills)
154: Collin Guffey (Granite Hills)
SECOND PLACE
115: Carlo Arreola (Granite Hills)
128: Jayson Suetos (Granite Hills)
140: Devon Wells (Granite Hills)
184: Ryder Dearborn (West Hills)
287: Seamus Boyle (Mt. Miguel)
THIRD PLACE
287: Lance Briseno (West Hills)
FOURTH PLACE
134: Layronz Fraser (Granite Hills)
147: Ryan Carroll (Granite Hills)
162: Zach Waterhouse (Granite Hills)
197: Keagan Kroeger (Granite Hills)
Girls wrestlers
FIRST PLACE
139: Olivia Davis (Monte Vista)
SECOND PLACE
133: Kayli Stanley (Granite Hills)
145: Amber Spencer (Santana)
152: Emma Contreras (Mt. Miguel)
172: Kennedi Jones (Steele Canyon)
191: Faith Manis (Steele Canyon)
THIRD PLACE
128: Kaya Lim (West Hills)
162: Peyton Wells (Granite Hills)
237: Honey Orduno Rivas (El Cajon Valley)
