The 14th annual Bud Harbin Battle by the Beach wrestling tournament faced off the 2014-15 high school wrestling season for eight Metro Conference teams Dec. 6 at Mar Vista High School in Imperial Beach. The Chula Vista Spartans led the local contingent with a sixth-place team finish in the 19-team field.
The tourney-host Mar Vista Mariners finished eighth, followed by the Bonita Vista Barons (11th place), Castle Park Trojans (13th place), Montgomery Aztecs (14th place), Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders (16th place), Sweetwater Red Devils (19th place) and Southwest (20th place).
The Imperial Tigers captured the team title with 155 points, followed by the runner-up Grossmont Foothillers with 125 points, third place Mira Mesa Marauders with 111 points, fourth place Mission Hills Grizzlies with 109 points and Monte Vista Monarchs with 107 points.
Chula Vista finished with 103.5 points – one-half point ahead of the seventh place Granite Hills Eagles. Mar Vista finished with 85 points – one point ahead of the Steele Canyon Cougars.
The Cathedral Catholic Dons finished with 69 points to round out the top 10 teams, placing four points ahead of Bonita Vista and five points ahead of parochial school rival St. Augustine Saints.
Weight class champions included Monte Vista’s Giovanni Pagan (106 pounds), Grossmont’s Jorge Ramos (113 pounds), Imperial’s Mark Galbiso (120 pounds), Nick Hart (126 pounds) and Kenneth Caldera (132 pounds), St. Augustine’s John Faust (138 pounds), Chula Vista’s Paul Lopez (145 pounds), Mar Vista’s Aaron Olmos (152 pounds), Grossmont’s Christian Mora (160 pounds), Mission Hills’ Alejandro Ficachi (170 pounds) and Alex Penning (182 pounds), Imperial’s Mark Benedict (195 pounds), Steele Canyon’s Johnathan Fischer (220 pounds) and Granite Hills’ Victor Garcia (285 pounds).
Imperial led the field with four weight class champions while Grossmont and Mission Hills each had two weight class champions.
“Some of the weight classes were strong, particularly 145, 152 and 160 pounds,” said Mar Vista head coach Mario Olmos, who served as tournament director. “It’s early in the season and kids are still adjusting to their weights, so it’s difficult to tell right now (about the strength of the other weight classes).”
Top individuals
Individual awards were presented to first-, second-, third-, fourth- and two fifth-place finishers.
Mar Vista had three finalists. Olmos, ranked second in the San Diego Section this season, defeated teammate Jacob Bingham by a 9-4 decision, while Ray Medrano narrowly placed runner-up at 182 pounds after a 7-6 loss.
Olmos finished 37-5 last season, losing in triple overtime at the section’s state qualifying tournament to miss advancing to the state championship meet by one point.
Chula Vista had two finalists. Chris Alonso finished second at 160 pounds by a 10-3 decision.
Other second-place finalists included Steele Canyon’s Anthony Lopez (106), Mira Mesa’s Brandon Rasgaitis (113), Imperial’s Dominic Ulloria (120), Monte Vista’s Mario Hernandez (126), Cathedral Catholic’s Garrett Seaver (132) and Tom Haddad (138), Mira Mesa’s Noah Lester (145), Grossmont’s Jason Tiensvold (170), Steele Canyon’s Colin Forman (195), Mission Hills’ Jonathan Pacheco (220) and Grossmont’s Marcus Morgan (285).
Imperial had five finalists while Grossmont had four finalists.
Third-place winners included Montgomery’s Brian Alegre (106), Mar Vista’s Christian Winnie (113), Monte Vista’s Andres Lopez (120), Canyon Crest Academy’s Sean McDowell (126), Bonita Vista’s Joseph Babauta (132), Imperial’s Marcus Monzan (138), Bonita Vista’s Matt Ayala (145), Mira Mesa’s Julian Magdarog (152) and Omar Piekarcyk (160), Bonita Vista’s Emmanuel Barajas (170), Grossmont’s Bryce Harmon (182), Granite Hills’ Westley Bass (195), Castle Park’s Ramon Cooper (220) and Mira Mesa’s Isaac Gallardo (285).
Fourth-place medalists included Mission Bay’s Pablo Vasquez (106), Steele Canyon’s Darian Murphy (113), St. Augustine’s Pedro Orso (120), Chula Vista’s Anthony Ortiz (126), Mira Mesa’s Eric Tena (132), Monte Vista’s Jesus Caleron (138), Mar Vista’s Jacob Belvry (145), Mission Hills’ Alberto Vasquez (152), Imperial’s Mitchell Crothers (160), Cathedral Catholic’s Anthony Caluza (170), Granite Hills’ Jake English (182), Mission Hills’ Giovany Gonzalez (195), Calexico’s Gustavo Torres (220) and Chula Vista’s Roman Delgado (285).
Among the parade of champions, Pagan (3:22), Ficachi (1:06) and Fischer (2:27) all won their finals matches by pin while Benedict (19-4) won by technical fall and Caldera (9-0) won by major decision.
