2005-06 San Diego Section Wrestlers to Watch
Count 'em tough -- 10 San Diego Section wrestlers open season with coveted state rankings

Updated Dec. 12, 2005

Ten San Diego Section wrestlers opened the 2005-06 season ranked among the state leaders, including four from defending state champion Poway. Titans receiving state rankings to open the season included senior Todd Schavrien (second, 130 pounds), senior Greg Prioleau (second, 171 pounds), senior George Flores (third, 103 pounds) and junior Joey Boone (fifth, 119 pounds).

Both Boone and Schavrien are returning state place-winners. Boone finished second at 103 pounds last season while Schavrien was third at 125 pounds.Flores is a two-time returning state qualifier, including last season in Poway green.

Schavrien opened the season ranked behind Hughson (Sac Joaquin Section) senior Billy Murphy while Prioleau was ranked second to Central Catholic (Sac Joaquin Section) sophomore Louis Bland.

Schavrien and Prioleau both jump-started the season by sweeping the Outstanding Wrestler awards at the El Dorado Holiday Invitational. Schavrien recorded four falls in the tournament to earn the Outstanding Lower Weight award, pinning Marina’s Shaun Lin (honorable mention state rankings) in the finals. Prioleau also recorded four falls to earn the Outstanding Upper Weight award, pinning Valhalla’s Bruno Salazar in the finals.

Murphy won last season’s 130-pound state championship title, defeating Bakersfield junior Elijah Nacita in the finals, while Bland won the 152-pound state title as a freshman with a 5-3 decision against Del Oro senior Josh Summers. .

Flores, who qualified for last season’s state tournament as the fourth-place finisher at the San Diego Section Masters finals (after finishing second as a sophomore), is ranked behind Fremont (Central Coast Section) junior Boris Novachkov (first) and Foothill (North Coast Section) junior Kellen Aura (second). Aura finished sixth in the state at 103 pounds last season.

Boone, in moving up two weight classes, is ranked behind three wrestlers: Fremont (Central Coast Section) senior Filip Novachkov (first), Northview (Southern Section) senior Caleb Flores (second), Sultana (Southern Section) senior Juan Archuleta and Oakdale (Sac Joaquin Section) sophomore Trevor Machado.

Machado won last season’s 103-pound state title as a freshman while Novachkov placed second at 112 pounds and Archuleta was fourth and Flores was seventh, both at 119 pounds.

Other San Diego Section wrestlers to make the first state rankings of the season include Brawley senior John Cardenas (fifth, 135 pounds), Mt. Carmel senior Todd McKay (fifth, 152 pounds), Kearny junior Nick Blair (seventh, 135 pounds), Carlsbad senior Kurt Klimek (seventh, 275 pounds), Valhalla senior Keith Juengst (eighth, 140 pounds) and El Camino senior Ron Taylor (eighth, 275 pounds).

Blair won last season’s 130-pound San Diego Masters title, while Klimek is a returning Masters finalist, finishing second to El Capitan’s Wes Fenton. Cardenas, McKay and Taylor all placed third at last season’s San Diego Massters finals.

Cardenas and Blair are both ranked behind three returning state placers: top-ranked Northview (Southern Section) senior Larry Medina (sixth at 130 last season), second-ranked Gilroy (Central Coast Section) senior Adin Denas (seventh at 130 last season) and third-ranked Bellarmine Prep (Central Coast Section) senior Daniel Summers (seventh at 125 last season).

Juengst, who did not wrestle last season, captured the 103-pound title the 2004 San Diego Masters championships. He is ranked behind four returning state placers: top-ranked Bakersfield’s Nacita (second at 130 last season), second-ranked Chapparal (Southern Section) senior Chris Drouin (second at 135 last season), third-ranked Gilroy (Central Coast Section) senior Armando Gonzalez (third at 135 last season) and fourth-ranked Willows (Northern Section) senor Brian Alves (seventh at 135 last season).

The Valhalla grappler finished fourth at the season-opening El Dorado Holiday Invitational, losing a 7-4 decision to seventh-ranked Chris Pineda, a senior from La Sierra (Southern Section), in the third-place match and placing behind both Northview’s Medina (ranked first at 135) and Yucca Valley (Southern Section) sophomore Vinny Maraj, who finished second to Medina by a 12-3 major decision.

McKay is ranked behind four returning state medalists: top-ranked Las Lomas (North Coast Section) sophomore Jason Welch (second at 145 last season), second-ranked Nevada Union (San Joaquin Section) senior Luke Manuel (sixth at 135 last season), third-ranked West Covina (Southern Section) junior George Munoz (sixth at 145 last season) and fourth-ranked Modoc (Northern Section) senior Travis Wood (eighth at 152 last season).

Klimek and Taylor are both ranked behind two returning state place-finishers: top-ranked Clovis West (Central Section) senior Chris Lewis (second at heavyweight last season) and second-ranked Edison (Southern Section) senior Romney Fuga (fourth at heavyweight last season).

Six San Diego Section wrestlers were included in honorable mentions categories: Poway freshman Tim Boone (112 pounds), Brawley senior Cory Caffarella (125 pounds), Calexico senior Jorge Lopez (152 pounds), Brawley senior Alvaro Zermeno (160 pounds) and Southwest El Centro senior Roberto Murillo (275 pounds).

Caffarella, Lopez, Zermeno and Murillo were all state qualifiers last season (all with fourth-place finishes at the San Diego Masters finals) while Boone is a defending frosh/soph state champion.

Boone and Lopez both opened the season with elite place-finishes at the El Dorado Holiday Invitational. Boone won the 112-pound class with a 4:30 fall against Hoover's Terry Singleton while Lopez finished second at 152 pounds with a 13-3 loss to Santa Monica (Southern Section) senior Yusef Syed (ranked eighth in the state).

Caffarella jump-started his season by winning his weight class at the 31-team Mar Vista Battle by the Beach tournament while Zermeno finished second to Poway’s Andrew Kilgore, who was named the tournament’s Outstanding Heavy Weight wrestler.