Mater Dei Catholic’s Olmos wins elite Five Counties wrestling title

As the 2016-17 high school wrestling season nears postseason competition, the goal remains the same for Mater Dei Catholic High School senior Aaron “Mateo” Olmos: earn a medal at the California state championship meet.

It’s the same goal shared by all wrestlers in the San Diego Section. It’s not an easy ticket to ride.

But for Olmos, a returning state meet qualifier, winning a state medal will mean much more to him. It will serve as vindication for a lost junior season.

A state medal will wash away a year of uncertainty and disappointment.

Olmos became Mar Vista High School’s first national wrestling champion when he capped his sophomore season by winning the 2015 Flo Reno Worlds National Championships. He finished 6-0 in the 15U 157-pound division. His weight class included 78 wrestlers, including national champions, state champions and high school All-Americans.

Olmos finished second at the 2015 San Diego Masters tournament that season after winning the 145-pound CIF Division III individual championship. He later went on to become Mar Vista’s first national champion after finishing first in his 15U 157-pound weight class at the Flo Reno World Nationals in Reno, Nev.

He also participated in the USA Wrestling Junior Nationals in Fargo, N.D.

But his junior high school  year remains blank. He was ruled ineligible to compete in CIF competition in 2015-16 after transferring from Mar Vista to Mater Dei Catholic. Normally student-athletes must sit out the first 30 days in their sport of choice after transferring, but Olmos received one year.

Obviously, it hurt. But after that year off the high school mat, the Crusader wrestler has returned with a vengeance by mopping up opponents.

Olmos is clearly making his mark his senior year. He opened the season by winning his 160-pound weight class at both the El Dorado and El Cajon Invitational tournaments. Between those major regional events, he split four matches at the Walsh Ironman in Akron, Ohio, considered the toughest high school tournament in the country.

The elite place-finishes catapulted him to the No. 4 ranking in his weight class in the state.

He’s done little to jeopardize that since.

Olmos finished fourth at the Doc Buchanan Invitational in Clovis just after the holiday break. That tournament is considered the toughest prep wrestling tournament on the West Coast. Olmos lost by a point in the semifinals.

The Mater Dei Catholic grappler came back to win the equally coveted Five Counties Invitational Jan. 13-14 at Fountain Valley High School.

His record currently stands at 19-4.

He’s by no means finished.

The top four place-winners at the San Diego Section’s Masters state qualifying tournament, scheduled Feb. 24-25 at Olympian High School, advance to the state tournament March 3-4 in Bakersfield.

Prior to that, area wrestlers will qualify to the Masters meet through individual divisional tournaments on Feb. 18. Mater Dei Catholic will host the Division IV finals.

Olmos expects to grab the spotlight.

He called winning the El Cajon Invitational, held Dec. 16-17 at Eastlake High School, a “stepping stone.”

“To get first place with a pin in the finals was amazing,” said Olmos, who earned the outstanding wrestler award with four pins and a major decision in his five matches. “I came into that tournament with a month of hard training. It was amazing to go out and represent Mater Dei Catholic. I’ve been waiting a long time to do that.”

He said his goal remains the same after each tournament: “I want to come back harder and dominate everyone in the county and state.”

Mater Dei Catholic head coach Brett Sanchez noted Olmos’s losses are against four top caliber wrestlers from highly recognized wrestling programs.

The two losses at the Iron Man came against Andrew Merola from Blair Academy, which is the top wrestling program in the country, and Jacob Weiss from the Broken Arrow powerhouse program in Oklahoma.

Merola finished second at the Iron Man while Weiss also placed among the top eight grapplers at the Ohio mega tourney.

His losses at the Doc Buchanan tourney were against top-notch competition.

“Mateo wrestled really well and lost in the semis to returning state placer Brandon Martino from Clovis High School,” Sanchez explained. “Martino has committed to Fresno State to wrestle in next wrestling season.

“Mateo’s fourth loss was to a tough wrestler from the Central Valley, Mark Caldwell (ranked third in the state from Monache High School), in his third-place match.

“Mateo is literally right there with the nation’s best and very fortunate that Mater Dei Catholic is very supportive for us to compete in the nation’s toughest tournaments where college scouts go to recruit to look out for the elite wrestlers in the country, so we would like to thank our school for the support.”

Sanchez noted that Olmos is being heavily recruited by top colleges throughout the nation such as Brown University, Virginia University, Old Dominion University, Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield and many top Division II schools as well.

“His academics are outstanding; he is sitting at a GPA over a 4.0,” Sanchez explained. “I don’t think it will be an issue finding a great school to land at next fall.”

It appears that wrestling will take him far in the world.

But he has unfinished business at hand.

“You will notice something about Mateo when he wrestles this year — you will see a young man who is hungry to dominate and wrestles with a chip on a shoulder,” Sanchez said.

“Unfortunately, he had to sit out all last wrestling season from CIF due to a transfer from Mar Vista to Mater Dei Catholic, but he believes it’s all part of God’s plan and it’s made him more resilient and tougher mentally throughout that process.

“So when you watch him compete, train and his body language this year, you’ll see him wrestle with pride and something to prove –that he belongs with the nation’s best. Nobody can take that from him this season but himself.”

Olmos is already making history for the Mater Dei Catholic wrestling program.

“Hopefully, he finishes the season strong on top of that podium at the CIF state tournament at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield,” Sanchez said.

In the spotlight

Olmos is not the only wrestler at Mater Dei Catholic who is regularly putting opponents on their back this season. Uriel Beristain placed runner-up at the El Cajon Invitational at 182 pounds while teammate Thomas Schmidt finished seventh at 195 pounds.

Beristain finished third at 170 pounds at Five Counties and is currently ranked first in the section at that weight.

Two other Metro mat men are showcased in the section’s current individual rankings: Eastlake’s Mike Johnson (fourth at 145 pounds) and San Ysidro’s Pablo Perez (third at 170 pounds).

Johnson placed fourth at the ECI tournament while Perez finished runner-up at December’s La Costa Canyon Jimmy Hamada Memorial tournament.

San Diego Section
Weight Class Rankings
Cal Grappler Website
(Through Jan. 16)

106 Pounds
1. Jacob Allen (Poway)
2. Marcus Tucker (Helix)
3. Tharen Burns (Steele Canyon)
4. Gavin Concepcion (Rancho Bernardo)

113 Pounds
1. Oscar Nellis (RBV)
2. Carson Sauriol (Poway)
3. Nathan Kiddo (Ramona)
4. Aria Mazroy (Mission Hills)

120 Pounds
1. Kenji Beato (Mt. Carmel)
2. Jaden Le (Rancho Bernardo)
3. Cameron Santiago (Poway)
4. Erick Marquez (San Marcos)

126 Pounds
1. Jaden Abas (Rancho Bernardo)
2. Chase Zollmann (Poway)
3. Marco Ramirez-Lazos (RBV)
4. Jeff Ramsthaler (Ramona)

132 Pounds
1. Scotty Kiyono (Poway)
2. Bernie Truax (RBV)
3. Tyler Badgett (Rancho Bernardo)
4. Christian Navida (San Marcos)

138 Pounds
1. Josh Tolentino (Poway)
2. Shadi Mitwali (Carlsbad)
3. Julien Tabarez (Southwest El Centro)
4. Jovani Venegas (Vista)

145 Pounds
1. Domonic Mata (Poway)
2. Chaz Franchina (Rancho Bernardo)
3. Drake Martinez (Brawley)
4. Michael Johnson (Eastlake)

152 Pounds
1. Quentin Hovis (Poway)
2. Erick Salcido (Rancho Bernardo)
3. Juan Ruiz (Mt. Miguel)
4. Gibby Carillo (Brawley)

160 Pounds
1. Aaron “Mateo”  Olmos (Mater Dei Catholic)
2. Hampton Boyd (Poway)
3. Elijah Davis (Vista)
4. David Lipscomb (Steele Canyon)

170 Pounds
1. Uriel Beristain (Mater Dei Catholic)
2. Celso Silva (Poway)
3. Pablo Perez (San Ysidro)
4. Godfrey Lozada (Rancho Bernardo)

182 Pounds
1. Nathan Tausch (Poway)
2. Connor Askins (Granite Hills)
3. Anastas Serebrykov (Valley Center)
4. Merceles Velasquez (San Marcos)

195 Pounds
1. Chasen Blair (Rancho Bernardo)
2. Chris Dixon (LCC)
3. Nick Ghosn (Grossmont)
4. Isaiah Hawkins (Valhalla)

220 Pounds
1. Dane Martinez (Brawley)
2. Jaime (Steele Canyon)
3. Ryan Olivas (Rancho Bernardo)
4. Nathan Bates (RBV)

285 Pounds
1. Luis Torres (Carlsbad)
2. Nic Klekas (Poway)
3. Enrique Galicia (San Marcos)
4. Andrew Pouhele (Helix)

Wrestliers to watch
Compiled by The Star-News
Tournament finalists: Battle by the Beach, Marauder Invitational, Monte Vista Invitational (top 3)
Place-winners: La Costa Canyon Classic/El Cajon Invitational

106: Killian Perrigon (VIsta); Tommy Lavigne (Valley Center); Julian Winnie (Mar VIsta); Alfonso Cruz (Mission Hills); Justin Gabriel (MIra Mesa)

113: Kevin Garcia (RBV); Moises Pacheco (St. Augustine); Israel Ramirez (San Ysidro); Shane Morey (Mt. Carmel); Jasvinder Singh (Mira Mesa); Anthony Lopez (Steele Canyon); Christian Winnie (Mar Vista); Jordan Bendorf (Bonita Vista); Danny Dominguez (Grossmont)

120: Jacob Moreno (Brawley); Gilbert Dominguez (Grossmont); James Rouhotas (Brawley); Guy Almeraz (Chula Vista)

126: Ben Martinez (Eastlake); Zeke Ramirez (LCC); Elliot Austin (La Jolla); Darian Murphy (Steele Canyon);  Patrick Kennedy (Rancho Bernardo); Matt Le (Vista); Caleb McMahon (El Camino); Keanu Bueno (Brawley); Anthony Ortiz (Chula Vista); Ethan DeGuzman (Olympian); Alexander Armenta (Valley Center)

132: Ethan Ramos (Olympian); Michael Leiniger (Rancho Bernardo); Jedrik Farin (Olympian); Devin Hayes (Mira Mesa); Ivan Miramontes (Steele Canyon); Jonas Ullsperger (Mater Dei Catholic); Alex Fernandez (Grossmont)

138: Kymani Yamboa (San Marcos); Colin Baldwin (Mira Mesa); Matt Gilchrist (Guajome Park Academy); Michael Wilson (Cathedral Catholic); Clarence Spense (Brawley); Dylan West (Brawley); Ezra Cardenas (Steele Canyon)

145: Aidan Baker (LCC); Daniel Medrano (Vista); Hunter Roberson (RBV); Jesus Barajas (Escondido); Kevin Moyna (Eastlake); Jay Magdarog (Mira Mesa); Joseph Castillo (Central Union); Gabe Schaurers (Grossmont); Spencer O’Gorman (Steele Canyon)

152: Johnny Miller (Vista); R.J. Guevara (Del Norte); Gage Bulette (Valhalla); Sithara Diunugala (Otay Ranch); Shane Finney (San Marcos); Nathan Ezrra (Brawley B); Thadeo Campbell (Central Union); Grayson Olep (Canyon Crest Academy); A.J. Francisco (Mira Mesa)

160: Colin Murphy (Rancho Bernardo); Sean Moran (Mt. Carmel); Alexander Love (Granite Hills); Xavier Silva (Steele Canyon); Noah Ashton (Del Norte); David Moreno (Christian); Luis Medina (Helix); A.J. Grijalva (Brawley B); Mathew Frith (Mar Vista)

170: Nick Rivinius (West Hills); Damien Gomez (Brawley); Leodiis Castro (Granite Hills); Joshue Guerrero (Clairemont); Daniel Foncello (Guajome Park Academy); Sean Jones (Mar Vista)

182: Hunter Phillips (University City); Richard San Nicolas (Monte Vista); Jacob Mendoza (Del Norte); True Stewart (Rancho Bernardo); James Amador (Vista); Alex Florey (Rancho Bernardo); Drake Taylor (Canyon Crest Academy)

195: Sawyer Sullaway (Del Norte); Thomas Schmitt (Mater Dei Catholic); Manuel Perez (Valley Center); Jose Gonzalez (Monte Vista); Jayce Jovero (Mission Hills)

220: Evan Sharpe (Central Union); Blake Schmidt (Monte Vista); Jonathan Zhang (Army/Navy); Kyle Tinney (Granite Hills); Tyler Williams (Mt. Miguel)

285: Jon Lewis (St. Augustine); Jessie Nava (Brawley); Sergioo Carzoli (Eastlake); Michael Toten (Holtville); Brandon Toji (Brawley); Alex Lemon (Mt. Miguel)