East County wrestlers gear up for Masters state qualifier
Grossmont Conference nets two CIF champions, 10 finalists

By Phillip Brents
Posted Feb. 22, 2006

The road to the state wrestling championship tournament the first weekend in March continues with this weekend’s San Diego Masters championships Feb. 24-25 at Otay Ranch High School. The East County will be well represented in this year’s Masters field after qualifying a hefty 54 wrestlers at last weekend’s divisional finals.

Grossmont Conference teams sent 10 grapplers to championship round matches in the four divisional tournaments on Feb. 18, winning two individual weight class titles. Seven more wrestlers took third place in their respective weights.

In any other year, the champions count might have been higher but the bulk of East County teams found themselves competing at the Division III finals at University City High School where three defending divisional champions met on the mat to do battle. Defending Division III champion Valhalla finished third in this year’s field behind Brawley (last year’s Division IV champion) and Mt. Carmel (last year’s Division II champion). Monte Vista (last year’s Division III runner-up team) was fourth in the field.

This year’s Division III tournament was brutal because of the talent showcase. Valhalla advanced five wrestlers to championship matches — three against Brawley grapplers and one against Mt. Carmel — but could only manage one title. Monte Vista had three wrestlers advance to the finals but all suffered losses, including two in the late stages of matches. El Capitan had one finalist.

Mt. Miguel’s Greg Villalobos (189 pounds) joined Valhalla’s Bruno Salazar (171 pounds) as the East County’s two Division III champions. Villalobos recorded an 11-6 victory against Brawley’s Jospeh Valdivia while Salazar pinned Monte Vista’s John Orr in 25 seconds to claim his individual title.

Monte Vista’s Hunter Beamon (103) suffered a last-second 7-4 loss to Ramona’s Chris Kirk (who earned the tournament’s outstanding lightweight award), while Monarch teammate Tim Pugsley suffered a loss by 4:49 pin against Mar Vista’s Joey Martinez, who would earn the tournament’s outstanding heavyweight wrestler award after his championship victory.

El Capitan’s Josh Garcia was the Grossmont Conference’s 10th Division III finalist, placing second at 275 pounds to Westview’s Bobby Charette.

For Valhalla, Landon Holmes (112), Jarrod Maguire (119), Keith Juengst (140) and Mark Kielbasa (152) all finished second in their respective weights. Juengst, a sixth-place state medalist two years ago, was the closest to grabbing victory after dropping a 3-2 decision to Mt. Carmel’s Todd McKay while Maguire lost 10-5 to Brawley’s Corey Caffarella and Kielbasa dropped a 15-2 major decision to Brawley’s Alvaro Zermeno. Holmes suffered a 5:22 pin against Brawley’s Mark Limon.
Brawley finished the tournament with seven champions and eight finalists while Mt. Carmel had two champions and four finalists.

The top six finishers in each weight class at the Division III tournament earned invitations to this year’s Masters state qualifying tournament, with seventh-place finishers earning alternate spots.

The Norsemen led the seven Grossmont Conference teams at the Division III finals with 13 Masters qualifiers and alternates. Joining Valhalla’s five finalists as 2006 Masters qualifiers were Josue Martinez (fourth, 125), Renzo Salazar (fourth, 130), Eric Kincaid-Sharp (fifth, 160) and Jose Cortez (fifth, 275). Alternates (seventh-place finishers) included Ryan Schmehr (103), Fred Hewitt (135), Max Verdusco (145) and Chris Thomas (189).

Valhalla finished 21 points behind runner-up Mt. Carmel. The Norsemen were hindered by the loss of two standouts because of injuries suffered in practice: Adrian Canizalez and Matt Kielbasa. Canizalez finished first at 135 pounds at the preceding week’s Grossmont Conference finals while Kielbasa finished fourth at 145 pounds at the conference championships.

“We were down a couple guys —Adrian’s loss was obviously huge,” Norseman coach Mark Gerardi said.

Monte Vista, which finished 27 points behind Valhalla, had 10 Division III place-finishers. Besides the three finalists, Monarchs’ Masters qualifiers included Tim Day (third, 145), Aaron Eberhart (fourth, 135), Chris Eade (fourth, 140), Lonnie Alexander (fifth, 140), Eric Winchell (fifth, 152), Robert Grey (sixth, 112) and Ryan Meehan (fifth, 275).

Steele Canyon, which took seventh place in the team standings, had eight Division III place-winners: Garret Estevane (third, 160), Ryan Pearl (third, 189), J.B. Graff (fourth, 152), Caleb Cardenas (fifth, 112), Tyler Ramer (fifth, 130), Kevin Doyle (fifth, 135), Manuel Vargas (seventh, 215) and Matt Norton (seventh, 275).

El Capitan, which placed 11th in the team standings, had three Masters qualifiers and two alternates. Besides Garcia, also qualifying for Masters were Nathan Neuhardt (third, 119) and Philip Kelly (sixth, 160). Alternates included Tony Sangermano (seventh, 125) and Cody James (seventh, 130).

Santana (13th in the team standings) had four Division III place-winners: Jacob Anagostopolis (fifth, 189), Adam Wentz (eighth, 140), Jeff Benz (eighth, 145) and Dwayne Holliday (eighth, 275).

Mt. Miguel (15th in the team standings) had two Division II place-winners. Joining champion Villalobos was Will Yankauskus (eighth, 275).

The Division I finals were held at Poway High School while the Division II championships took place at Mira Mesa High School. San Marcos High School hosted the Division IV tournament.

Division I
The top eight place-winners in each weight class earned a trip to the Masters state qualifying tournament. Granite Hills finished with six Masters qualifiers: Ross Logan (third, 130), Jesse Alexander (fourth, 215), David Graciano (sixth, 140), Josh Simmons (seventh, 145), Dereck Cockrum (eighth, 160) and Patrick Madigan (seventh, 171).

The Eagles finished 10th in the team standings in a field that included defending state champion Poway, 2005 Masters runner-up Vista and North County power Carlsbad. Poway advanced 13 wrestlers to the championship round, winning eight titles, while Vista had seven finalists and four champions. Carlsbad had four finalists and one champion.

Division II
The top six place-finishers advanced to Masters. West Hills finished eighth in the team standings while Helix was 10th and Grossmont was 11th.

West Hills had six Masters qualifiers: Sanger Hamad (third, 135), Jose Cervantes (fourth, 103), Jackson Kunz (fifth, 119), Nick Gilchriest (fifth, 130), John Degurski (fifth, 152), Tom Buchanan (fifth, 189),

Helix had six Masters qualifiers: Stephen Alvarez (third, 125), Keith Myers (fourth, 275), A.J. Agustin (sixth, 112) and Victor Richmond (fifth, 135),

Grossmont had five Masters qualifiers: Gianni Battaglia (third, 103), Valentin Cuevas (fourth, 119), Kazim Wahid (fifth, 145), Yosuf Wahid (sixth, 152) and A.J. Gonzales (sixth, 215).

Masters schedule
Twenty-four wrestlers from the four divisional qualifying tournaments will compete in each of 14 weight classes, with the top four place-winners earning a berth in the state championship tournament the following weekend. Competition starts Friday, Feb. 24, at 11 a.m. and resumes Saturay, Feb. 25, at 9 a.m. Championship finals are scheduled at 5 p.m. For complete results of all four divisional tournaments, visit the Web site at www.sdgrappler.com.