This year’s high school state wrestling championships Feb. 26-28 at Dignity Health Arena in Bakersfield produced 21 San Diego Section medalists — 13 among boys grapplers and eight among girls.
Poway, with 229.5 points, dominated the local boys field with 11 medal-winners (top eight place-finishers) and two weight class champions en route to a runner-up finish behind team champion Buchanan (288.5 points).
Granite Hills fleshed out the section’s honor roll with two medalists: Cash McClurg (third place at 106 pounds) and Ames-Michael Hoevker (sixth place at 144 pounds).
No other section team advanced a wrestler to the awards podium, creating elite company for the two East County mat men. The Eagles finished 13th in the team standings with 57.5 points.
Poway’s state champions included Bailey Holman (157) and Mario Carini (175).
The Titans’ horde of state medalists also included Dom Dotson (third. 190), Mick Moylan (third, 215), Rene Cordero (fourth, 120). Jack Malinconico (fifth, 132), Matt Orbeta (fifth, 138), Diego Valdiviezo (fifth, 144), Mason Conrite (fifth, 165), Carlos Valdiviezo (seventh, 150) and Julius Villamil (eighth, 113).
McClurg, seeded eighth, recorded a 7-0 decision over Reedley’s Aiden Talavera (seeded fifth) in the bronze medal match while Hoevker, seeded fourth, dropped a 4-1 decision to Poway’s Diego Valdiviezo (seeded fifth) in the pair’s fifth-place match.
McClurg lost to top-seeded Michael Bernade of Clovis in the quarterfinals while Hoevker came up short against Diego Valdiviezo in the quarters. Both East County mat men advanced through the consolation wrestle-backs from there to claim their career-defining state medals.
The so-called “blood round” is where the match winner is assured of a state medal. McClurg recorded a 21-3 technical fall over Gilroy’s Roman Fonsesca while Hoevker scored a clutch 4-2 win over Esperanza’s James Ruiz to reach the awards stand.
Quarterfinalists included Granite Hills Aiden Chur (seeded seventh at 157), Brawley’s Justin Torres (seeded fifth at 138) and Adam Avila (seeded seventh at 215) and Imperial’s Noah Larios (seeded fifth at 285).
None advanced to the ensuing semifinals.
In the blood round, wrestlers falling short of a medal included Poway’s Wyatt Carnrite (106), La Costa Canyon’s Shane Ito (113), Granite Hills’ Emilio Escobar (120) and Chur (157), and Brawley’s Torres (138), Avila (215) and Daryn Leon (190).
Escobar lost 5-1 to Poway’s Cordero while Chur lost 8-5 to Los Angeles Birmingham’s Roman Arakelyan.
Soaring Eagles
Granite Hills earned honors as the section’s second-best placing team at the recent California state boys wrestling championship tournament in Bakersfield. The Eagles placed 13th out of more than 200 teams in the mega event with two state medalists.
““I think our program does a really good job preparing our athletes for the state tournament, whether that preparation comes from the work we do in the room or by taking them to some of the toughest tournaments during the season.,” Granite Hills head coach Jesse Sheard said. “Doc B is probably harder than the state tournament itself, which we hope helps set our wrestlers up for success when the state tournament comes around.”
It worked.
McClurg (43-6) finished third in his 106-pound weight class while Hoevker (37-8) placed sixth in his 144-pound division.
Additionally, 120-pounder Emilio Escobar (43-8) fell one round short of earning a state medal.
“Overall, we had a very successful year,” Sheard said. “Our athletes work extremely hard to make sure they are at their best when it matters most. People love to say Granite will be down next year, but what they don’t see is the time and effort our athletes and coaches put in during the offseason so we can start the next season right where we left off.”
Three Metro mat men qualified from the section Masters tournament for the state meet: Mar Vista junior Ryder Bareng (106) and Bonita Vista seniors Nathan Banaszek (144) and Madden Poderick (165).
All went 0-2 in the double-elimination tournament. Poderick bowed out with a tight 1-0 setback to Upper Lake senior Aiden Dancer. Bareng lost by scores of 12-1 and 7-1. Banaszek lost to wrestlers from Palm Desert and L.A. Birmingham.
For the most part, it was tough going for San Diego Section wrestlers. But the state tournament remains much more of a meat-grinder than the section’s already tough Masters tourney.
Brawley, which finished third at Masters, finished 22nd at the state meet with 33.5 points while La Costa Canyon (fourth at Masters) was 48th with 16.5 points and Imperial (seventh at Masters) was 53rd with 13 points.
Rancho Bernardo (sixth at Masters) finished in a tie with Valhalla (eighth at Masters) for 69th place with nine points. Carlsbad (ninth at Masters) finished 78th with 8.5 points while Vista (19th at Masters) was 84th with eight points.
Following were Cathedral Catholic (125th, five points), Ramona (154th, three points), Escondido (161st, two points) and Mt. Carmel (161st, two points).
Challenging, indeed.
Girl power
Buchanan duplicated the boys team championship in the girls tournament with 147.5 points ahead of runner-up Marina (109 points). Poway was fifth with 97.5 points while Brawley and Rancho Bernardo tied for ninth with 43.5 points. There was a big drop off from there: Carlsbad tied for 41st with 25 points.
“Overall, we had an OK year on the girls side,” said Steele Canyon coach Trevor Keifer, who also acts as the section’s girls wrestling director. “I was hoping that we would bring home around 15 medals to get a shot at gaining an extra qualifier. We medaled eight, which kept us safe from losing one. Hitting 13 medals the last two years made me optimistic.”
The section had five semifinalists and three advanced to the finals, but no champions. Silver medalists included Poway’s Ava Ebrahimi (120), Brawley’s Camille Torres (130) and Rancho Bernardo’s Mary Snider (155).
Snider lost a 2-0 match in the finals while Torres lost 3-0 to begrudgingly go down.
Poway’s Ava Fodera placed third at 105 pounds. Other state medalists included Carlsbad’s Caroline Collins (fourth, 110), Poway’s Isabella Fodera (fifth, 110), Rancho Bernardo’s Chloe Pearce (fifth, 130) and Brawley’s Lauren Zaragoza (sixth, 135).
“The blood round really hurt,” Keifer said. “We had 10 with a shot at the podium, but only three prevailed. The bright side is that of the 42 qualifiers from San Diego, 28 of them are underclassmen, which bodes well for next year.”
Four Metro girls advanced to the state meet, all from Olympian High School: seniors Jianna Goodwin (100), Madelyn Hogue (140), Natalia Righellis (145) and Elisa Najera (235). Hogue, Righellis and Najera were all Masters champions.
Righellis, one of South County’s top female wrestlers over the course of her career, had the most success among the quartet with a 2-2 record.
She won her first match with a 4-3 decision over Fountain Valley’s Lillian Benoe, lost by a 1:05 pin to Cesar Chavez’s Natalin Hout, won by a 20-3 technical fall in her first consolation bracket match against Golden West sophomore Justine Perez. In her final match, Righellis lost by a 3:40 pin to Frontier junior Avery Naven.
Goodwin, Hogue and Najera all finished 0-2.
