San Diego Section 2006-07 Preview:

Mt. Carmel Sundevils breathe flames but Imperial's Ms. Caldera steals the show at Marauder Invitational

Posted Dec. 12, 2006
The Mt. Carmel Sundevils were everywhere one looked, it seemed, at this year’s Marauder Invitational. The Sundevils’ varsity team ran away with the team title with 268 points, nine finalists, seven champions and 13 place-winners. The Sundevils’ junior varsity team, with seven medalists and one finalist, finished fifth in the 28-team field.

But the talk of the Dec. 9 tournament at Mira Mesa High School was clearly Imperial junior Priscilla Caldera.

“Did you see the girl?” more than one male wrestler and coach asked throughout the day — and even as teams were boarding buses that night following the awards ceremony.

The consensus, to quote those same wrestlers and coaches: “She’s good.”

Please add an exclamation mark to that.

Caldera, who advanced to last season’s San Diego Masters state qualifying tournament as a sophomore after finishing fourth in her 103-pound weight class at the Division IV championships, finished third at 112 pounds at this year’s Marauder Invitational. She finished 3-1 on the day with three pins (all against boys).

She placed third after recording a 3:55 pin against Cathedral Catholic’s Josh Salmeron, originally the weight’s second-seeded wrestler.

Caldera had to valiantly fight off her back at one point midway through the match before scoring the victory.

She also did not let a bloodied nose stop her in a second-round match.

That earned her respect throughout the gym, not that she already didn’t need any after being seeded fourth in the weight class.

Caldera was one of two Imperial girl wrestlers to qualify for medal-round matches at this year’s Mira Mesa tourney. Rachel Burt finished eighth at 103 pounds following a loss by 1:47 fall against Holtville’s Ben Angulo.

Caldera opened the tournament by pinning La Jolla’s Greg Heinze in 1:56 before being relegated to the wrestle-backs by virtue of a technical fall (in 5:15) administered by Clairemont’s David Schafer in the quarterfinals. The Imperial matster won twice more — both by pin — to finish third.

Caldera pinned Mission Bay’s Cory Thornton in 4:02 in the consolation semifinals.

The Tigers, who finished in a tie for ninth in the team standings with five overall medalists, had two finalists: Sammy Cervantes won a 13-1 major decision from Poway’s Brandon Ruff to capture the heavyweight title while Cameron McNeer finished second to Mt. Carmel’s Keaton Hveem after a 4:36 pin at 216 pounds.

Red-hot Sundevils
Mt. Carmel’s champions included Anthony Weber (112), Matt Starbeck (130), Brandon Hetzler (140), Aaron Murphy (145), Nate Velasco (171), Chris Bascon (189) and Keaton Hveem (216).

Murphy (1:42), Velasco (1:05), Bascon (0:39) and Hveem (4:36) all won by pin while Weber won by technical fall.

Murphy earned the Outstanding Heavy Weight award with four pins in as many matches.

Finishing second in their weights for the Sundevils were Steven Martinez (103) and Beau Cervantes (135). Martinez represented Mt. Carmel’s JV squad while Cervantes finished runner-up by injury default against Poway’s Nate Gutschow.

The Sundevils varsity team finished with four third-place medalists while the Mt. Carmel JV team had three grapplers qualify for third-place matches, winning two.

Poway Titans — runners-up
The Titans B varsity team finished second with three champions, five finalists and eight medal-winners. Besides Gutschow, also capturing first-place finishes were Kea Reynolds (152) and John Stokke (160). Matt Herman (189) joined Ruff as a finalist.

Poway finished nine points ahead of third-place Washington Union (Fresno) in the team standings.

Top 10 roundup
Rancho Bernardo (fourth), El Camino (sixth), Hilltop (seventh), Scripps Ranch (eighth) and Imperial and Grossmont (tied for ninth) rounded out the top 10 teams.

Rancho Bernardo had 10 medalists, though none higher than third place (four placers) while El Camino had eight medalists, including 140-pound runner-up Nick Furst (by injury default).

Hilltop had six medalists: Javier Martinez (second, 145), Andy Galata (third, 135), Todd Garrison (fourth, 140), Toma Walls (fourth, 152), Benz Seaton (fourth, 160) and Michael Reyes (119).

Grossmont had five medalists: Valentin Cuevas (first, 119), Gianni Battaglia (second, 112), Yosuf Wahid (third, 152), Jeff Webb (fifth, 189) and John Flint (fifth, 286).

Cuevas, who won his weight class at the season-opening Carlsbad Invitational, recorded a 13-9 decision against Morse’s Daniel Woldeyesus while Battaglia (second at this year’s Carlsbad Invitational) dropped a 17-2 technical fall to Mt. Carmel’s Anthony Webb in the finals.