2005-06 San Diego Section Wrestlers to Watch

Defending state champion Titans open season with El Dorado title
San Diego Section earns 24 medals, 15— count‘’em — by Poway

By Phillip Brents
www.sdgrappler.com

Since the California state high school wrestling championship meet started in 1973, no San Diego Section team has won back-to-back team titles. In fact, the list of San Diego Section championship teams is short:

1973: Monte Vista.
1985: Valhalla.
1986: Poway.
1999: Poway.
2005: Poway.

The Poway Titans captured last season’s state title with 167 points — 56 points ahead of runner-up Bakersfield (as the Titans moved up from their third-place finish behind the team champion Drillers from the previous season). Poway returns five wrestlers off that team, including state medalists Joey Boone (second at 103 pounds) and Todd Schavrien (third at 125 pounds) and two-time returning state qualifier George Flores. Add “A” team newcomers Tim Boone and Hawken Ruis — both frosh/soph state champions — to that mix and one has to ask the obvious question: Can the Titans do it again in 2006?

Many are betting they can.

But it if so, it will be a different route than last season when Poway and Bakersfield ran away from the rest of the pack at the state finals. This season, look for more balance among the elite teams in what could pan out to be a five-team race for the coveted team title. Team rankings are not due out until the conclusion of the Reno Tournament of Champions. In the meantime, the top five front-runners appear to be Gilroy, with four returning state placers, Bakersfield, Northview, Buchanan and Poway.

It is estimated the Titans will need to qualify between 10-14 wrestlers to win the 2006 state championship, needing valuable points from grapplers who do not place in the tournament to put them over the top.

Last season, Poway qualified 12 wrestlers for the state meet, finishing with six medalists, including two finalists.

Titans have a holiday at El Dorado
Poway certainly gave a preview of what is to come by easily winning the team title at the season-opening El Dorado Holiday Invitational Dec. 2-3. The Titans racked up 323.5 points in the 42-team field. Thirteen Titans earned medals, with two additional team members entered as “No.2 wrestlers” also earning place-finishes for a grand total of 15 medals. Poway finished 141 points ahead of second-place Northview, which finished the tournament with 10 place-finishers (counting one No. 2 wrestler to place).

Bakersfield Centennial was third with 160.0 points and six medalists while Esperanza finished fourth in the team standings with 127.5 points and eight place-finishers (counting one No. 2 medalist).

The nearest San Diego Section team in the standings was Valhalla in 14th place with 70.0 points and three medalists.

Some team the Titans appear to have in 2005-06.

Poway finished the tournament by sweeping both Outstanding Wrestler awards. Todd Schavrien captured the MVP Lower Weight award with four pins and one technical fall in his 130-pound weight class while Greg Prioleau captured the MVP Upper Weight award with four pins in his 171-pound division.

Schavrien, an All-American who finished 51-2 last season and entered this season ranked third nationally in his weight class, pinned Marina’s Shaun Lin in 2:37for his title while Prioleau pinned Valhalla’s Bruno Salazar in 34 seconds to claim his weight class.

Schavrien’s opened the tournament with a 44-second pin and followed with a 17-0 technical fall and pins of 2:51 and 1:38 to reach the finals, where he added his fourth fall of the tournament.

Prioleau, a quarterfinalist at last season’s San Diego Masters finals, swept through the El Dorado bracket with four consecutive first-period pins after receiving a first-round bye. The senior matster recorded fall times of 1:11, 1:20, 0:40 and 0:34.

The Titans finished with five weight class champions and eight finalists. As a whole, the San Diego Section finished with 12 finalists — including the eight from Poway — and 24 medalists, including two all-section championship pairings.

For Poway, Flores (103), Tim Boone (112), Schavrien (130), Travis Brown (160) and Prioleau (171) all won weight class titles while Joey Boone (119), Clayton MacFarlane (145) and Josh Teeples (275) took runner-up finishes. The Titans scored four third-place medals: Ruis (135), Chris Selensky (152), Cory Lehman (189) and Nick Wood (275). Additionally, Cody Hill was fourth at 215 while Sean Hill was fifth at 189 and Colin Kenley was fifth at 125.

Flores, Joey Boone, Schavrien, Prioleau, Lehman and Teeples are all varsity “A” team returners while Tim Boone, Kenley, Ruis, Selensky, Brown, both Hills and Wood all competed on last season’s “Killer Beez” squad. MacFarlane is a transfer from Vista.

Tim Boone went 42-0 last season as part of Poway’s B squad, wrestling all varsity matches.

Among the Titans’ finalists at El Dorado …

Poway’s Flores decisioned South Hills’ Thomas Williams 11-9 in the 103 finals to finish 4-0 with one pin, an 11-2 decision and 7-0 semifinal win (against Yucca Valley’s Jason Moorhouse, the eventual fourth-place finisher). Flores advanced as the top-seeded wrestler in the division while Williams was seeded second, turning back East Bakersfield’s Peter Gonzalez by a 7-1 score in the semifinals.

Tim Boone pinned Hoover’s Terry Singleton in 4:30 to win the 112-pound division in an all-San Diego Section finals match-up. Boone advanced as the weight’s second-seeded wrestlers while Singleton advanced as the fifth-seeded wrestler with two pins, a 16-1 technical fall and a 10-6 decision. Boone was nothing short of impressive in his 2005-06 varsity debut by scoring four falls, recording pin times of 1:55, 1:20, 4:31 and 4:30. Singleton scored wins against two other medal-winners: East Bakersfield Necktoe Demison (third) and Villa Park’s Jon Haines (seventh).

Poway’s Joey Boone, seeded second, finished runner-up in his 119-pound division by a narrow 4-3 decision to the top-seeded wrestler in the tournament from Northview. Boone’s run to the finals included a pair of pins and a 6-1 decision.

Poway’s MacFarlane, one of the section’s high-profile transfers this season, finished second in his 145-pound division by a 2:41 fall against champion Bryce Horton of Centennial. MacFarlane, who finished xxx last season at Vista, advanced to the finals with four consecutive wins as the second-seeded wrestler.

Brown, seeded fifth, edged Ventura's Jacob Frye 11-10 in a high-scoring match to win the 160-pound title. Brown upset top-seeded Zach Glasby of El Dorado by a 6-2 decision in the semifinals after jump-starting the tourney with three pins. Frye was seeded seventh in the weight bracket but followed an upset path in the bottom half of the bracket to reach the championship match.

Teeples, seeded second, dropped a 9-2 decision to Centennial's David Morgan, the top-seeded and fourth-ranked heavyweight in the state. Teeples, who failed to place at last season’s San Diego Masters meet, opened the El Dorado tournament with two falls and a 7-2 semifinal win against Northview’s Zeik Sanchez.

In consolation medal matches for Poway ...

Poway’s Ruis entered the tournament seeded third and opened with a pin and a 15-0 technical fall en route to the 135 semifinals, dropping a 9-4 decision to Centennial’s Hunter McAtee, the weight’s second-place finisher. Ruis edged Santa Ana’s Jose Navarro by a 4-2 decision for third place after first winning a 9-4 decision in the quarterfinals.

Selensky, seeded eighth, defeated Northview's Anthony Mendoza by a 4-1 score in the 152 third-place match. Selensky opened the tournament with a 1:35 fall and 7-0 shutout win before being edged 2-1 by top-seeded Chris Shogren of Hemet in the quarterfinals. Selensky scored four consecutive wins in the consolation wrestle-backs. Shogren, who suffered an upset pin in the semifinals against Jorge Lopez of Calexico, went on to finish fifth in the weight bracket after dropping a 5-1 decision to Northview’s Mendoza in the consolation semifnials.

Lehman pinned Esperanza's Brian Dedick in 2:45 in the 189-pound third-place match after earning the second-seeded position in the bracket. Lehman opened the tourney in ferocious fashion with two sub-minute pins (43 and 28-seconds) and a 9-0 major decision before dropping a tight 4-3 semifinal match to Centennial’s John Musquez (eventual runner-up in the weight class).

Wood decisioned Porterville's Javier Ayala, 2-0, for third at 275 pounds. Unseeded, Wood toppled eighth-seeded Joe Santoyo of Westminster by a 5-0 decision and, following a 5-2 loss to top-seeded (and eventual champion) David Morgan of Centennial Bakersfield, won four more times in the consolation wrestle-backs.

Cody Hill, seeded eighth, dropped a 3-1 decision to Porterville's Jose Perez to finish fourth at 215 pounds. After opening with a 1:05 fall, Hill shocked top-seeded Jose Perez of Porterville by a 5-3 decision in the quarterfinals, only to drop a 5-2 decision to Patrick Henry’s Leo Coleman in the semifinals. Hill edged Monte Vista’s Tim Pugsley, 5-4, in the consolation semifinals to then advance to the third-place match.

Hill defeated La Sierra's Joey Garcia by 1:16 fall to place fifth at 189 pounds. Unseeded, Hill upset eighth-seeded Brian Dedrick by a 6-0 decision and won two successive matches in the wrestle-backs before meeting teammate Cory Lehman in the consolation semifinals, dropping a 3-1 decision to drop to the fifth-place match, which he won by fall.

San Diego Section roundup
Hoover’s Terry Singleton (who finished second to Valhalla’s Jarrod Maguire at 112 pounds at last season’s San Diego Section Division III championships) scored four successive victories to emerge from his fifth-seeded position to place second at 112 pounds following a loss by 4:30 pin against Poway’s Tim Boone in the finals. Singleton had placed fifth at the same weight at last year’s tournament. The Hoover grappler scored a 10-6 win against fourth-seeded Jon Haines of Villa Park in the quarterfinals and then pinned East Bakersfield’s Necktoe Demison in 4:08 in the semifinals after Demison had earlier disposed of top-seeded Jordan Matthews of Porterville by an 11-2 major decision.

Calexico's Jorge Lopez, a returning state meet qualifier who finished fourth at last season’s San Diego Section Masters tournament after placing second at the Division II finals, finished second at El Dorado by a 13-3 decision to Santa Moncia's Yusef Syed at 152 pounds. Lopez entered the tournament seeded fifth but recorded a 1:11 fall against top-seeded Chris Shogren of Hemet in the semifinals.

Scripps Ranch’s Byron Murphy, seeded seventh in the 125-pound weight division, recorded a 9-1 major decision against Centennial’s Seth Hicks to finish. The section finished with three place-winners in the weight class, with Poway’s Colin Kenley finishing fifth and Valhalla’s Jarrod Maguire finishing sixth. Both Kenley (seeded sixth) and Maguire (seeded first) advanced to the semifinal round, with Maguire losing 11-4 to the eventual silver medalist and Kenley dropping a 13-2 decision to eventual champion Michael Koehnlein of Marina. In the consolation semifinals, Murphy topped Maguire, 9-1, while Hicks dropped Kenley to the fifth-place match with an 11-6 win. For fifth place, Kenley bested Maguire 13-8. Murphy finished 6-1 while Kenley was 4-2 and Maguire was 3-3.

Valhalla’s Keith Juengst (a state qualifier in 2004 after winning the 103-pound title at the San Diego Section Masters championships) was fourth at 140 pounds following a 4-2 performance. The Norseman grappler, seeded second in the weight class, opened with pins of 0:53 and 5:00 to advance to the quarterfinals, where he recorded a 4-0 decision against Centennial’s Carsen McAtee to advance to the semifinals against Yucca Valley’s Vinny Maraj, seeded third. Maraj pinned Juengst in 3:20 to drop the Valhalla matster to the consolation semifinals, where Juengst scored a 6-5 win to move on to the third-place match against La Salle’s Chris Pineda, losing 7-4.

Monte Vista’s Rudy Simmons (third at last season’s San Diego Section Division III finals) finished sixth at 119 pounds after advancing to the semifinals with three successive wins, first defeating Porterville’s Billy Etrata by a 10-6 decision before scoring a 1:52 fall in the second round and a default win against the third-seeded wrestler in the division, Yucca Valley’s Donnie Miller, in the quarterfinals. Simmons, seeded sixth, came up short in his semifinal match-up against Poway’s Joey Boone, seeded second in the weight class.

Valhalla's Bruno Salazar (sixth at last season’s SD Masters finals) advanced to the finals of the 171-pound division after earning the third-seeded position in the bracket. However, his run was ended by MVP Upper Weight Prioleau of Poway courstey of a 34-second fall. Salazar pinned his way to the championship with successive falls against Ventura’s Tyson Reeves (5:32), Esperanza’s Jake Kennedy in the quarterfinals (25 seconds) and second-seeded Seamus Dean of El Dorado in the semifinals (52 seconds)

Patrick Henry's Coleman (third at last season’s San Diego Section Division II championships) advanced to the finals of the 215-pound division, placing runner-up to Villa Park's Robby McBride by a 6-4 decision. Coleman opened the tournament with fall times of 2:09 and 0:56 before earning a default win against El Dorado’s Kyle Dean in the quarterfinals and topping upset-minded Cody Hill of Poway by a 5-2 decision in the semifinals.

Monte Vista’s Tim Pugsley captured fifth place by injury default. He entered the tournament seeded third and finished with a 4-2 record that included pins of 23 and 52 seconds.

Valhalla’s Jarrod Maguire (fifth at 112 pounds at last season’s San Diego Masters championships after first winning the section’s Division II title) earned the top-seeded position at El Dorado and advanced to the semifinals with a 3:23 pin against Porterville’s Alex Cervantes and a 15-2 major decision against Redlands East Valley’s Eric Rodriguez before suffering an 11-4 setback to Edison’s Garrett Drucker, seeded fourth in the weight division. After dropping to the consolation bracket, Maguire drew a pair of San Diego Section wrestlers, dropping an 8-1 decision to Scripps Ranch’s Byron Murphy and a 13-8 decision to Poway’s Colin Kenley to place sixth.

El Dorado Holiday Invitational
San Diego Section Medalists
First Place
103: George Flores (Poway)
112: Tim Boone (Poway)
130: Todd Schavrien (Poway)
160: Travis Brown (Poway)
171: Greg Prioleau (Poway)

Second Place
112: Terry Singleton (Hoover)
119: Joey Boone (Poway)
145: Clayton MacFarlane (Poway)
152: Jorge Lopez (Calexico)
171: Bruno Salazar (Valhalla)
215: Leo Coleman (Patrick Henry)
275: Josh Teeples (Poway)

Third Place
125: Byron Murphy (Scripps Ranch)
135: Hawken Ruis (Poway)
152: Chris Selensky (Poway)
189: Cory Lehman (Poway)
215: Nick Wood (Poway)

Fourth Place
140: Keith Juengst (Valhalla)
215: Cody Hill (Poway)

Fifth Place
125: Colin Kenley (Poway)
189: Sean Hill (Poway)
215: Tim Pugsley (Monte Vista)

Sixth Place
119: Rudy Simmons (Monte Vista)
125: Jarrod Maguire (Valhalla)