2006-07 San Diego Section
Wrestlers to Watch


El Cajon Invitational Recap

East County mat men stand tall at El Cajon Invitational
Official website: www.elcajoninvitational.com

Posted Jan. 1, 2007
The El Cajon Invitational, the oldest and perhaps most prestigious regular season high school wrestling tournament in San Diego County may have venture from its East County roots in recent years due to a lack of an appropriate venue, but that hasn’t stopped East County mat men from excelling at the regional draw event.

The 36th edition of the tournament, held Dec. 28-29 at San Ysidro High School, was no different as four Grossmont Conference grapplers, including two from tourney-host Valhalla, advanced to championship-round matches.

Valhalla senior Chris Thomas placed first in his 189-pound weight class after recording a 2:44 pin against previously undefeated Justin Phillips of Granite Hills. The high profile victory earned Thomas ho the 36-team tournament’s Outstanding Heavy Weight Wrestler award.

Valhalla senior Landon Holmes finished second in his 112-pound division following an 11-5 loss against Jordan Dix from James River, Va.

Grossmont’s Yosuf Wahid finished runner-up in his 152-pound division after an 8-3 loss to Adam Torres of Thunderbird, Ariz.

For the Norsemen, Holmes and Thomas were clearly sparkplugs.

“They both wrestled well,” Valhalla head coach Mark Gerardi said following tournament awards ceremonies. “Chris had a great tournament. He had three pins and a match that was a little closer in the semifinals. Last year was really his first real season on the mat. He didn’t wrestle his first two years in high school. All but one of Holmes’ losses so far have been to wrestlers from outside the county.”

Thomas, who finished seventh at 189 pounds at last year’s San Diego Section Division III championships, appears ready to take on the section’s best this season after opening the season by winning the prestigious El Dorado Holiday Invitational. Thomas went 4-0 at the El Cajon Invitational with pins of 16 seconds and 51 seconds in his first two trips to against Golden Valley’s David Rodriguez and Bonita Vista’s Cody Lopez, respectively, and a 12-8 semifinal decision against Valley Center’s Tony Sudak.

Thomas, seeded first in the weight class, improved to 16-2 with his finals victory against San Diego Holiday Classic champion Phillips, who had entered the all-East County championship matchup with a perfect 16-0 record.

Phillips, seeded second in the weight class, had advanced to the 189 finals with an 18-3 technical fall (against Escondido’s James Ornella), 5:26 pin (against Kevin Booth of Palmerton, Pa.) and a hard-fought 8-6 semifinal victory against Imperial’s Cameron McNeer.

Phillips was one of two Granite Hills’ place-winners in the tournament. Derek Cockrum placed eight at 160 pounds following a 6-3 loss to Shafter’s Joseph Aames. Cockrum, who won three consecutive matches in the single-elimination wrestle-backs to medal, had been unseeded in the tournament.

Holmes, who had opened the season with a seventh-place finish at the El Dorado tournament, was coming off a breakout performance at the elite national-draw Reno Tournament of Champions that saw the Norseman grappler finish 4-2. He was the lone Valhalla matster out of 10 entrants to advance to the second day of competition.

The Norseman light weight, who has been wrestling since the sixth grade, was equally dominant at the El Cajon Invitational, rising from his fourth-seeded position with two technical falls and a pin to reach the championship round. Holmes (15-5) recorded an impressive 16-1 semifinal victory against Chris Shreves from Tucson Flowing Wells after pinning Grossmont’s Gianna Battaglia in the quarterfinals and topping Escondido’s Rody by a 17-2 score in his first match.

Dix — Holmes’ finals opponent — was one of four finalists from the Virginia school. All the East Coast wrestlers exhibited superior speed in competition. After the final buzzer, Holmes slammed his fist into the mat in frustration.

However, his senior season continues to look bright.

“One of my main goals is to wrestle the entire season,” said Holmes, who finished one win away from medalling at the Reno mat fest. “The other seasons I’ve had injuries or other issues. I also want to be in contention this year to go to state — to show people that I’m a state contender.”

This was Holmes’ third year at the El Cajon Invitational, a tournament in which he had previously never placed. “I’ve been a lot more dedicated this year,” he said. “Our new coach (Gerardi) has been getting us in better condition.”

Wahid (14-2) entered the tournament seeded second, winning his first match by 35-second pin (against Calexico’s Danny Arias), his second match by 10-5 decision (against Brawley’s Eddie Ruiz) and his semifinal match 10-7 against Ripon’s Jake Brigdon.

Arias (21-3) had opened the season by placing eighth at the El Dorado tournament.


Metro Conference Report:
BV's Periola finishes third in national-draw tourney

Watching the body language of Bonita Vista High School wrestling coach Gabe Ruz at matside is almost as exciting as watching his wrestlers. This year, however, expect Ruz to be a little less theatrical.

The reason: Baron grapplers are competing with a sudden sense of confidence.

“Our guys’ conditioning is so good that I no longer worry whether they’re behind going into the third period,” Ruz said.
Case in point: Matthew Periola. The 160-pounder was trailing his opponent, Ripon’s Nate Wagner, in the consolation semifinals at the 2006 El Cajon/San Ysidro Invitational. A loss would have dropped Periola to the tournament’s fifth-place match. However, the BV wrestler pulled a sudden move and had Wagner locked in a cradle en route to a 4:33 pin.

The dramatic victory allowed Periola to exact some revenge in the ensuing third-place match with a 3-1 victory against Poway’s Wes Jones. Jones had beaten the Baron mat man, 1-0, in the finals of the season-opening Mar Vista Battle by the Beach tournament.

Periola finished the Dec. 28-29 tournament at San Ysidro High School with a 5-1 record. He was seeded fifth in his weight bracket and advanced to the tourney quarterfinals before being pinned in 4:30 by fourth-seeded Tyler Ennis of Escondido. The Baron wrestler then won four consecutive matches in the consolation wrestle-backs to medal.

Ennis finished sixth in the weight class, which went to Jarrod Shupp of Palmerton, Pa., via a 4-3 decision against Oak Grove’s Randy Perez in the championship finals.

The 2006 tournament — the 36th edition of the section’s longest-running and most prestigious high school wrestling tournament — featured four out-of-state teams among the top six placers, including runner-up James River from Richmond, Va.

Periola was the highest place-finisher among the five Metro Conference trophy-winners in the national-draw tournament. Also earning spots on the awards stand were Bonita Vista teammate Cesar Sandoval (seventh, 112), Montgomery’s Pedro Tapia (fifth, 125) and Hector Hernandez (seventh, 130) and San Ysidro’s Toby Galaviz (seventh, 189).

Tapia, seeded seventh, advanced as far as the semifinals, dropping a 14-5 matchup against runner-up Robert Castaneda of Brawley after recording a 9-8 decision against La Costa Canyon’s James Sullivan (seeded second) in the quarterfinals.


ECI notepad
Poway captured the team title with 217 points ahead of second place James River (187.5), which is located in Richmond, Va. Of the top six teams, four were from out of state. Thunderbird (Ariz.) was third, followed by Palmerton (Pa.) in fourth, Brawley in fifth and Flowing Wells (Ariz.).

Grossmont’s Battaglia finished eighth at 112 to round out the East County placers in the tournament. Valhalla finished 15th in the team standings.

RBV heavyweight Trent Smith pulled off a rare feat by defeating three Poway wrestlers in his weight class en route to the title. Smith improved to 15-0 by edging Poway’s “A” wrestler, Nick Wood, by a 4-2 score on a takedown in the final 15 seconds of the championship match. In preliminary matches, Smith topped Poway’s Brandon Ruff by a 5-2 score in the quarterfinals and Alberni Ruis by a 3-2 score in the semifinals. “I felt really happy. It was an exciting run. I used it a motivation,” said Smith, who won his weight class at the San Diego Holiday Classic.

Hoover’s Anai Novoa was the lone female placer in the tournament, taking eighth at 103 pounds.

The Monte Vista Invitational, which will showcase Poway’s “A” squad, gets underway at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 6. Finals are scheduled at 6 p.m.

High profile dual meets on Thursday, Jan. 4, include Valhalla at Steele Canyon and Monte Vista at Granite Hills. Varsity action starts at 6:30 p.m.

36th El Cajon/San Ysidro Invitational
Dec. 28-29, 2006 at San Ysidro High School

Team Standings
1. Poway 217
2. James River (Virginia) 187.5
3. Thunderbird (Arizona) 141
4. Palmerton (Pennsylvania) 132
5. Brawley 130
6. Flowing Wells (Arizona) 124.5
7. Rancho Buena Vista 111
8. Oak Grove 104.5
9. Ontario 103.5
10. Ripon 98
11. La Quinta 95.5
12. Escondido 92
13. Valley Center 91
14. Temescal Canyon 87
15. Valhalla 86.5
16. Bonita Vista 63
17. Santa Teresa 62
18. Shafter 55
19. Grossmont 54.5
20. Golden Valley 54
21. Scripps Ranch 50.5
22. Hoover 47
23. Montgomery 45
24. Imperial 44
25. Lake Oswego 37
26. Archbishop Riordan 36.5
27. Granite Hills 34.5
28. Oakland Tech 31
29. Dorsey 29
30. (tie) Calexico 22
30 (tie) Fallbrook 22
32. San Ysidro 21.5
33. Del Mar 18
34. Estrella Foothills 13
35. La Costa Canyon 6
36. Holtville 3.5


Outstanding Wrestlers
MVP Light Weight: Wyatt Anderson (James River, Virginia), 125 pounds
MVP Upper Weight: Chris Thomas (Valhalla), 189 pounds


Parade of champions
103 Pounds
Nick Lopez (La Quinta) decisioned Steve Elizalde (Brawley) 6-4 (OT). Records: Lopez 20-2; Elizalde 18-2.

112 Pounds
Jordan Dix (James River, Virginia) decisioned Landon Holmes (Valhalla) 11-5. Records: Dix 17-2; Holmes 15-5

119 Pounds
Mike Hernandez (Poway) decisioned Jared Anongas (James River, Virginia) 3-2. Records: Hernandez 13-2; Anongas 18-3 (sixth Virginia in 2005-06)

125 Pounds
Wyatt Anderson (James River, Virginia) pinned Robert Castaneda (Brawley) 2:48. Records: Anderson 16-2; Castaneda 20-3.

130 Pounds
Zack Mainez (Thunderbird, Arizona) decisioned Ivan Arevalo (Brawley) 5-3. Records: Mainez 20-0 (two-time third-place medalist Arizona); Arevalo 10-2.

135 Pounds
Ricky Abril (Thunderbird, Arizona) pinned Jordan Tibbets (Poway) 5:29. Records: Abril 20-0 (second Arizona in 2005-06); Tibbets 9-4.

140 Pounds
Aaron Briggs (Flowing Wells, Arizona) decisioned Mike Dunn (James River, Virginia) 10-6. Records: Briggs 18-0; Dunn 11-9.

145 Pounds
Zach Dojaquez (Flowing Wells, Arizona) decisioned Alfonso Solorio (Temescal Canyon) 7-6. Records: Dojaquez 12-1; Solorio 17-1.

152 Pounds
Adam Torres (Thunderbird, Arizona) decisioned Yosef Wahid (Grossmont) 8-3. Records: Torres 21-3; Wahid 14-2.

160 Pounds
Jarrod Shupp (Palmerton, Pennsylvania) decisioned Randy Perez (Oak Grove) 4-3. Records: Shupp 6-0; Perez 13-4.

171 Pounds
Ian Daube (Poway) major decisioned Matt Cole (Flowing Wells, Arizona) 10-0. Records: Daube 16-3; Cole 15-3.

189 Pounds
Chris Thomas (Valhalla) pinned Justin Phillips (Granite Hills) 2:44. Records: Thomas 16-2; Phillips 16-1.

215 Pounds
Tommy Bertram (Ripon) pinned Devonte Carr (Oak Grove) 3:50. Records: Bertram 7-1; Carr 11-1.

285 Pounds
Trent Smith (Rancho Buena Vista) decisioned Nick Wood (Poway) 4-2. Records: Smith 15-0; Wood 10-4.