Metro Conference Varsity Championships

Barons out-duel Lancers in blockbuster Metro finals

Posted Feb. 15, 2008
To put it mildly, there are some darn good wrestlers in the Metro Conference this season. A select few might be ranked near the top of their weight classes in the San Diego Section but many more exhibit a tenacity that … well, wins championships.

That was aptly put on display at last Saturday’s Metro Conference championship tournament at Southwest High School. The Hilltop Lancers entered the finals with an eight-point lead on Bonita Vista but the Barons, with six wins in eight finals matches, marched to first place at the concluding awards ceremony.

“We just hoped that other teams would help us out and that our guys needed to beat whoever they were wrestling,” said BV sophomore Frank Bell, whose 9-6 victory against Chula Vista’s Roman Molina in the 173-pound division helped the Barons secure this year’s tournament team title.

Bonita Vista medaled 12 of its wrestlers in the Mesa League and had nine grapplers earn top three place-finishes in the combined 13-team conference field.
The Barons led the field with six varsity champions: Carlos Ayala (121 pounds), Cesar Sandoval (127 pounds), Hector Arambula (154 pounds), Nick Barnes (162 pounds), Bell and Bryan Roughton (heavyweight).

Hilltop, which finished 10 points behind Bonita Vista in the team standings, had two champions: Javier Martinez (142 pounds) and Andy Galata (147 pounds).
Eastlake, which finished in third place in the team standings, had three champions: Anthony Alviz (105 pounds), George Castilleja (114 pounds) and Alex Johnson (217 pounds).

Mar Vista, which finished in fourth place in the team standings, had one champion: Tommy McLaughlin (191 pounds).

Montgomery, which finished in fifth place in the team standings, had two champions: Hector Hernandez (132 pounds) and Joseph Kent (137 pounds).
Hernandez (lower weight) and McLaughlin (upper weight) were named the tournament’s outstanding wrestlers.

A total of eight schools were represented in this year’s varsity finals. Taking runner-up finishes were Hilltop’s Eli Eaves (121 pounds), Mike Reyes (132 pounds), Felipe Alfaro (154 pounds) and Jerry Santillan (217 pounds), Bonita Vista’s Rickie Haynes (114 pounds) and Cody Lopez (191 pounds), Mar Vista’s Max Uribe (105 pounds) and Hugo Medrano (137 pounds), Chula Vista’s Gustavo Ortiz (147 pounds) and Molina (173 pounds), Eastlake’s Justin Baroy (127 pounds), Otay Ranch’s Ed Bajet (162 pounds), San Ysidro’s Jose Bautista (142 pounds) and Castle Park’s Alexi Samaan (heavyweight).

Alviz (24-7), Castilleja (20-4), Hernandez (31-6), Kent (24-10), Martinez (36-2), Galata (31-6), Arambula (26-2), Barnes (30-6), Bell (28-5) and McLaughlin (26-5) all successfully defended their top-seeded positions.

Upsets occurred in the 121, 127, 217 and heavyweight divisions.

Ayala, a freshman who improved to 14-4, was seeded second at 121 pounds but won by a 12-4 major decision over top-seeded Eaves (25-4) while Mar Vista’s Allan Delos Reyes, seeded first at 127 pounds, was taken out by fourth-seeded Baroy (21-10) in the semifinals. At 217 pounds, Johnson (19-4), seeded third, topped second-seeded Tony Sifuentes of San Ysidro, 4-1 in the semifinals and then bested top-seeded Santillan (30-7), 5-1, in the finals, while Roughton, seeded third, bested second-seeded Brian Halter by a 10-5 score in the semifinals to advance to the championship match against eighth-seeded Samaan, an upset winner against Hilltop’s Andy Aguilar in the quarterfinals.

The Lancers received some inspirational wins throughout the tournament but stumbled with just two victories in six finals matches. Ironically, Hilltop coach Thomas Juarez wrestled for Bonita Vista coach Gabe Ruz when the two were at Montgomery High School a decade ago.

“I respect coach Ruz,” Juarez said. “I basically have structured my program like his. When we’re at the same tournament, we both have the same goal, which is to win it. But today, his wrestlers were better prepared to wrestle — in the right mind-set and physical shape. They wanted it more than we did.”

BV’s Roughton (3:48), Eastlake’s Alviz (1:14) and Hilltop’s Martinez (5:18) scored the only pins in the finals while Montgomery’s Hernandez (9-1) and BV’s Arambula (18-7) both recorded major decisions.

Juarez accepted second place graciously but said his wrestlers will likely wrestle as if with a fire under them at Saturday’s Division II finals at Scripps Ranch High School.

“Eli and Felipe making it to the finals and Alex Hughes pulling third place (at 162 pounds) and Anthony Salinas coming back (after a loss in the 114-pound semifinals) to place third were huge for us,” said Juarez, whose team clinched this year’s South Bay League title with a 69-6 dual win against Southwest . “But taking this loss now instead of at CIF was good for us. I think it will motivate us to wrestle better. No one remembers who medaled at Metro but who medaled at CIF.”

That the Metro-champion Barons, San Ysidro and Sweetwater also will be competing at the Division II tournament should add a little fire to the competition as well.

“We think we can be a contender at CIF,” said Martinez, who will be out to make a return trip to the state championship meet this post-season. “It’s what coach Juarez said — you have to be prepared (in all phases) before you go out and wrestle.”