It’s official: a new era has dawned for the Mater Dei Catholic High School wrestling program. The Crusaders have been setting school records all season and they set several more at last weekend’s San Diego Section Masters state-qualifying tournament, the section’s largest and most prestigious mat event.
Mater Dei Catholic qualified two wrestlers to compete in this weekend’s state championship tournament in Bakersfield. The Crusaders also finished the Masters meet with three medalists and four wrestlers who finished among the top eight place-winners in their respective weight classes.
Mater Dei Catholic also set a school record with its eighth place team finish among the 70 teams that competed at this year’s Masters tournament.
Senior Aaron “Mateo” Olmos and junior Uriel Beristain became the first Masters champions in school history for the east side private school.
They join the legendary J.J. Gracio at the top of the Crusader wrestling list. Gracio won the 178-pound section title in 1977. At that time there was no Masters tournament, just one single postseason tournament.
Olmos, who is ranked fourth in the state, captured the 162-pound weight class with a 3-1 decision over Poway senior Hampton Boyd.
Beristain won the 172-pound championship title in an all-Metro Conference match-up against San Ysidro senior Pablo Perez.
The top four place-finishers in each of 14 weight classes qualified from the San Diego Masters tournament to compete at the state meet.
The Metro Conference recorded an impressive six state qualifiers, including five finalists, two champions, three runners-up and one fourth-place finisher.
Eastlake junior Ben Martinez (second, 122 pounds), Montgomery senior Chase Riegg (second, 287 pounds) and Olympian junior Ethan Ramos (fourth, 128 pounds) also qualified to compete at this weekend’s state meet.
The six Metro state qualifiers is double the number of state qualifiers from the conference last year.
The conference recorded six state qualifiers on at least one other occasion in the last two decades.
The strong finish by Mater Dei Catholic made a statement, in particular, for the Crusaders’ two individual Masters champions and medalist Thomas Schmitt (fifth in the 184-pound weight class). All were ruled ineligible to complete last year after transferring to Mater Dei Catholic High School.
All three had to sit out a year before resuming their athletic careers on the mat.
The elite Masters place-finishes have tempered some of the bitterness.
“It’s been a journey, obviously,” Olmos said. “It’s been a blessing every time I am able to step onto the mat. It’s an awesome feeling. I can’t describe it.”
Beristain qualified for the state meet as a freshman but his sophomore season was blank.
“It feels amazing to finally win Masters after placing second as a freshman,” Beristain said. “I had to wait two years (for this moment). CIF made a decision that took away my sophomore season.”
Olmos (48-4) finished 4-0 at the two-day Masters tournament (Feb. 24-25). He recorded an 18-3 win by technical fall in his first match against Mar Vista sophomore Mathew Frith before outlasting El Camino senior Drew Clark by an 8-7 decision in the quarterfinal round.
Olmos advanced to the championship round following a win by medical forfeit over Steele Canyon sophomore David Lipscomb in the semifinals.
The Crusader grappler had to overcome an early 1-0 deficit against Boyd in the title bout. Olmos tied the match on an escape to start the third period and won the tight finals match on a takedown with 15 seconds left in regulation.
He has set a goal of coming home with a medal from the state meet.
“I want to win it (the state championship), obviously,” Olmos said. “I think you’ve got to go into it (the state tournament) with only one goal — and that is to win it. If you don’t go in with the mind-set to win, then there’s no point (of going).”
Beristain and Perez entered their finals match tied 1-1 on the season. Beristain defeated Perez at the Holtville tournament while Perez defeated Beristain at the Metro Conference finals.
The rubber match went to Beristain (32-7) by a 6-5 decision.
Perez led 3-1 before Beristain tied the match, 3-3, on a takedown late in the first period.
Perez took a 4-3 lead on an escape to start the second period. Beristain tied the match, 4-4, on an ensuing escape and took a 6-4 lead on a takedown in the third period.
Perez scored another escape late in the match to narrow the score to 6-5 but Beristain managed to hold off the San Ysidro mat man in the dying seconds to record the championship victory.
“I had to be on the edge the entire time,” Beristain said. “I was looking for his low singles. I was looking to re-attack.”
Beristain was seeded first in the weight class while Perez was seeded third.
Perez advanced to the title bout on the strength of three successive pins, including two first-period falls, while Beristain recorded a second-period pin and two minor decisions to advance to the gold medal match.
Beristain out-pointed Brawley junior Damien Gomez, 6-3, in the semifinals.
Riegg’s journey to second place in the heavyweight division was one of the more inspirational at Masters. Seeded 10th after competing in an abbreviated season due to an injury, the Aztec wrestler marched to the championship match on the strength of three consecutive pins to meet top-seeded Carlsbad senior Luis Torres.
Torres eked out a 2-0 lead through the first two periods before Riegg tied the match in the third period on a reversal. But Torres (36-3) scored a late escape to win 3-2.
Riegg (12-6) advanced in the 287-pound division despite weighing just 215 pounds. He won this year’s Metro title and then went on to capture the Division III championship the following week despite being out-weighed by 45 pounds by his finals opponent.
“I learned to don’t take on these big guys head on and let them fall on you,” Riegg offered, smiling.
Martinez (34-7) was seeded fifth in his 122-pound weight division but edged fourth-seeded Erick Marquez, a senior from San Marcos, by an 8-3 decision in the quarterfinals. The Eastlake wrestler then defeated top-seeded Jaden Le of Rancho Bernardo by a medical forfeit in the semifinals.
Mt. Carmel junior Allan Ke Beato (27-2) denied Martinez the championship title by topping the Titan mat man by a 4-2 score in the finals.
Ramos lost by a 3:24 pin in the quarterfinals to Poway junior Chase Zollman. The Olympian wrestler then recorded three wins in the consolation bracket to advance to the third-place match against Mira Mesa senior Devinair Hayes.
Hayes captured the bronze medal with a 5-3 decision.
“I couldn’t have done it without my coaches and my teammates,” Ramos explained. “It feels great to accomplish something I’ve dreamed about for so long.”
Mat attack
Medals were awarded to the top six place-winners in each weight class. Besides the six state qualifiers, three other local mat men received medals: Olympian junior Luciano Parra (fifth place, 147 pounds), Mater Dei Catholic’s Schmitt (fifth place, 184 pounds) and Eastlake senior Michael Johnson (sixth place, 147 pounds).
Parra recorded a win by medical forfeit over Johnson in their fifth-place match.
Schmitt defeated Escondido senior Greg Sandoval by medical forfeit in their fifth-place match.
Schmitt won his first match by a 10-0 major decision but lost by a 2:08 pin in the quarterfinals to top-seeded Nathan Tausch (39-4) of Poway. Schmitt won two matches in the consolation bracket but suffered a loss by a 3:47 pin to San Marcos junior Kalani Sorenson in the consolation semifinals to take the Mater Dei Catholic wrestler out of contention for a state-qualifying berth.
The nine Metro Masters medalists make a statement for the rising quality of wrestling among Sweetwater Union High School District schools.
Takedowns
Poway captured the team title at last weekend’s Masters event with 333 points to easily out-distance runner-up Rancho Bernardo (219 points). Rancho Buena Vista was third behind the two mat giants with 95 points, nipping North County rival San Marcos by one point.
Steele Canyon and Brawley tied for fifth place with 87 points, followed by Ramona in seventh place with 86.5 points and Mater Dei Catholic in eighth place with 85.5 points. Metro-Mesa League champion Olympian finished ninth with 81 points while Vista rounded out the top 10 teams with 78 points.
Poway led the section with 12 state qualifiers while Rancho Bernardo had seven state qualifiers.
Poway senior Quentin Hovis, the 154-pound champion, received the MVP award. Hovis (46-0) is ranked No. 1 in the nation.
