Rancho Bernardo 10-Way Duals Report:
Norsemen finish second in elite mat gathering

The running joke around San Diego Section wrestling circles last season was that Poway’s “B” squad was better than any other varsity team in the region — only that it was no joke. Titans supporters were serious in making such a claim.

This year they got a chance to prove it and did with a 49-15 championship victory against Valhalla in the inaugural Rancho Bernardo 10-Way dual tournament Jan. 21 at Rancho Bernardo High School — an event several mat aficionados chose to call the “unofficial” San Diego Section dual championships.

The event, according to those who attended, was well run and the format very spectator-friendly. Certainly, it was very successful for the Valhalla Norsemen, who defeated arch-rival Monte Vista, 39-36, to advance to the championship round against Poway.

Monte Vista finished fourth in the team standings after a 54-18 loss to North County power Carlsbad in the third-place dual.

A total of four East County teams participated. Steele Canyon finished seventh while Granite Hills was ninth in the 10-team tournament.

Monte Vista 103-pounder Hunter Beamon earned honors as the tournament’s Outstanding Light Weight wrestler with five first-period pins.

Valhalla, which owns a team title in the first of only two “official” San Diego Section dual meet championships (that coming in 1991 against Escondido), finished 4-1 in its five duals on the day. The Norsemen scored victories against Vista’s “B” squad (47-23), Granite Hills (52-17) and Rancho Bernardo (51-25) before besting Monte Vista.

The Monarchs, who have won the last four Grossmont South League dual titles, scored five pins in the dual against Valhalla. The victorious Norsemen recorded four pins and two forfeit wins.

Valhalla and Mont e Vista will formally meet on Feb. 9 at Monte Vista High School in a pivotal Grossmont South League dual meet that could likely determine which team wins this year’s league championship. The teams finished the RB 10-Way each with seven individual medalists, so take your pick depending on the match-ups.

Valhalla’s medal-winners included Jarrod Maguire (first, 119), Bruno Salazar (first, 171), Landon Holmes (second, 112), Josue Martinez (second, 125), Keith Juengst (third, 140), Mark Kielbasa (third, 145) and Chris Thomas (third, 189).

In the championship dual against the Titans, Holmes, Maguire, Juengst and Salazar were the only Norsemen to pick up wins. Holmes won by disqualification against Henry Yorba while Magurie scored a 6-4 decision against Mike Hernandez, Juengst won 8-4 against Brad Robinson and Salazar defeated Javier Arvalo by a 9-5 decision. Poway scored six pins and one major decision.

Monte Vista’s medalists, besides Beamon (first, 103), included Aaron Eberhart (first, 135), Tim Pugsley (second, 215), Rudy Simmons (third, 125), Eric Winchell (third, 152), Chris Eade (third, 162) and Ryan Meehan (fourth, 275).

Beamon (33-second pin), Eberhart (6-2 decision), Tim Day (2-0 decision) and Eade (37-second pin) were the Monarchs’ four winners in the third-place dual against Carlsbad, which totaled six pins and two forfeit victories.

Granite Hills had five medalists: Ross Logan (third, 130), Jacob Castillo (third, 135), Pat Madigan (fourth, 171) and Jesse Alexander (fourth, 215). Three Eagles picked up pins in their 42-21 victory against Mar Vista for ninth place.

Steele Canyon’s Caleb Cardenas placed fourth at 112. The Cougars topped tourney-host Rancho Bernardo, 48-33, for seventh place.

Vista’s “B” squad defeated Ramona, 40-33, for fifth place.

Notepad
Mar Vista, filling out just half of the 14 weights, finished 10th with a 42-12 dual loss against Granite Hills. In a show of courage, four of the five Mariners in the lineup against the Eagles scored wins, including three by pin.

Joey Martinez earned the first-place medal in his 215-pound weight class, defeating Granite Hills’ Jesse Alexander (the champion of the season-opening Mar Vista Battle by the Beach tournament) by a 4-3 decision.

In other duals, the under-manned Mar Vista squad fell to Ramona (60-24), Poway (73-3), Carlsbad (71-3) and Steele Canyon (56-24). In the dual against Poway, Martinez recorded a 5-2 decision against the Titans' Cody Hill.

Team Standings
1. Poway B
2. Valhalla
3. Carlsbad
4. Monte Vista
5. Vista B
6. Ramona
7. Steele Canyon
8. Rancho Bernardo
9. Granite Hills
10. Mar Vista

MVP Light Weight: Beamon (Monte Vista)
MVP Heavy Weight: Jordan Taghvai (Carlsbad)

Individual Results
103 - 1- Beamon (Monte V), 2- Gonzales (Poway), 3- Kirk (Ram), 4- Sirin (RB)
112 - 1- Duffy (Cbad), 2- Holmes (Val), 3- Yorba (Pow), 4- Cardenas (SC)
119 - 1-Maguire (Val), 2- Sullivan (Cbad), 2- Mahon (RB), 4- Escobar (Vista)
125 - 1- Gosnell (Cbad), 2- Martinez (Val), 3 Simmons (Monte Vista), 4- Dixson (Vista)
130 - 1-Matthews (Ram), 3- Schnieder (RB), 3- Logan (GH), 3- Hotta (Vis)
135 - 1- Eberhart (Monte Vis), 2- Gutchow (Pow), 3-Castillo (GH) 4- Benson (Cbad)
140 - 1- Ortiz (RB), 1- Seavers (Ram), 3-Juengst (Val), 4-Anderson (Cbad)
145 - 1-Barajas (Vis), 2-Reynolds (Pow), 3-Kielbasa (Val), 4-Tuck (Cbad)
152 - 1-Selensky (Pow), 2-Gunner (Cbad), 3-Winchell (Monte Vista), 4-Leon (Vista)
160 - 1-Macedo (RB), 2 Kilgore (Pow), 3-Eade (Monte Vista), 4- Kennedy (Cbad)
170 - 1-Salazar (Val); 2-Rehn (Vista), 3- Arvalo (Pow), 4-Madigan (GH)
189 - 1-Taghvai (Cbad), 2-Corbett (Ram), 3- Thomas C (Val)
215 - 1-Martinez (Mar Vista), 2-Pugsley (Monte Vista), 3-Hill (Pow), 4-Alexander (GH)
275 - 1. Klimek (Cbad), 2. Cowen (Vis); 3. Wood (Pow), 4. Meehan (Monte Vista).