2006-07 San Diego Section
Wrestlers to Watch

East County mat men prepare for finals

Posted Feb. 5, 2007
With regular season dual meet losses to Monte Vista, Steele Canyon and, most recently, Valhalla, the Granite Hills High School wrestling team will not win this year’s Grossmont South League championship. But there are potentially other significant things on the horizon, starting with this weekend’s Grossmont Conference championship tournament at El Capitan High School.

Tournament action starts Saturday, Feb. 10, at 10 a.m.

Granite Hills’ top prospects going into the conference tournament include 189-pounder Justin Phillips, 160-pounder Derek Cockrum and 103-pounder Zach McClanahan.

Phillips has advanced to the championship match in four local tournaments this season, winning weight class titles at the Carlsbad Invitational and San Diego Holiday Classic while placing second at the El Cajon Invitational and Monte Vista Invitational and third at the San Pasqual tournament.

McClanahan placed first at the San Pasqual tournament after earning a tie for third place at the midseason San Diego Holiday Classic and fifth place at the ensuing Monte Vista Invitational.

Cockrum finished eighth at the national-draw El Cajon Invitational in midseason.

The team championship remains up for grabs with Valhalla, Monte Vista and Steele Canyon all having equally strong chances to winning the title, with West Hills, El Capitan and Granite Hills all playing the potential spoiler role.

Granite Hills dropped 36-35 and 42-36 dual meet decisions to Monte Vista and Valhalla, respectively, while Steele Canyon — with equally narrow losses to the Monarchs and Norsemen — is coming off its first-ever varsity tournament title after winning the 20-team San Ysidro Invitational on Feb. 3.

El Capitan won a dual meet tie-breaker from the Cougars earlier this season.

West Hills opened the season by winning the team title at the Carlsbad Invitational.

Monte Vista travels to Valhalla on Thursday, Feb. 8, to decide the regular season Grossmont South League dual meet championship. Both teams sport undefeated 4-0 records in league competition.

Eagles coach Bart Hartley, for one, said he is looking forward to this Saturday’s tournament.

“I think all 11 schools have a legitimate shot at having at least one champion,” Hartley said. “With the youth on our team, CIF might give us trouble. But on the other hand, we usually wrestle very well there, specially the younger teams that I have brought in the past six years. It wouldn’t surprise me if we qualified nine to Masters.”

That is, Hartley said, if several of his wrestlers get to wrestle at the San Diego Section divisionsals.

“The 21-match rule that is apparently going to be enforced this year might stop a few of my kids from even wrestling at CIF.” The Granite Hills coach said. “I am really curious as to why CIF is enforcing the rule this year when it has been around for awhile. I have a few kids who have taken forfeits at duals and wrestled at five tournaments and still are not going to get 21 matches. I don’t see haw CIF is accomplishing the goal of improving competition in the section by enforcing this rule. If anything, they are causing coaches to schedule easier tournaments so they know there wrestlers will get more than three matches.

“As for Masters, who knows? The second day of Masters is a monster. You see things there that you won’t see anywhere else, but we could — or should — have a couple placers. After Thursday night, it is a whole new season. I can’t wait.”

The Eagles will compete at the Division I finals that follow on Feb. 17. The San Diego Masters state qualifying tournament is scheduled Feb. 23-24. The state championship meet is March 2-3 in Bakersfield.

Granite Hills led Valhalla 30-18 with five matches left and was assured an additional six points on a forfeit in the final match of the teams’ dual Feb. 1 in the Eagles’ gym. Each team won seven matches but the Norsemen captured all their wins by pins. Granite Hills finished the encounter with three pins, two forfeit victories and two wins by minor decision.

The Eagles started off flying high by winning three of the opening four matches, building an early 12-6 lead on victories by Willy Horner (pin at 145 pounds), Jacob Castillo (decision at 152 pounds) and Cockrum (decision at 160 pounds).

Granite Hills maintained its momentum by capturing three of the next five matchups, with victories going to Phillips (forfeit win at 189), Joe Savala (pin at heavyweight) and McClanahan (pin at 103).

The Eagles, who were leading by 12 points at this point, were assured of a forfeit win at 135 pounds. That left the Norsemen in a must-win scenario in each of the next four bouts. Valhalla closed the gap to a 30-all tie on pins by Tony Espinoza (112) and Landon Holmes (119). The last two matches to be contested on the mat were highly competitive, with wrestlers from each team having an opportunity for victory.

Those two swing matchups went to Valhalla mat men as the Norsemen pulled out the 42-36 come-from-behind victory on the strength of pins by Zack Maguire (125) and Leo Ruffino (135).

Colin Thomas (140), Nathan Pastore (171) and Chris Wright (215) also secured pins for Valhalla.

Holmes, Renzo Salazar (135) and Thomas should light up the marquee at the ensuing league, divisional and sectional tourneys. The Norsemen also possess additional firepower in Espinoza, Wade Templeton (130), Wright and Jose Cortes (heavyweight).

Monte Vista’s top tournament wrestlers this season include Levi Annon (103), Robert Grey (112), Hunter Beamon (returning state qualifier), Chris Eade (171) and Tim Pugsley (215).

Grey won his weight class at this year’s Monte Vista Invitational while he and Eade led the Monarchs with third-place finishes at the San Diego Holiday Classic. Eade most recently finished second in his weight class at the Helix varsity tournament on Feb. 3 while Annon and Kenneth Tribble (160) both earned fourth- and fifth-place showings, respectively, at the same tournament.

Beamon qualified for last year’s state tournament at 103 pounds but is competing at 125 pounds this season. He earned a fifth-place finish at the Monte Vista Invitational.

Lonnie Alexander (152) and Pepe Martinez (285) are other Monarchs who will be contending for medals at the conference finals.

Steele Canyon topped El Camino by six points to win the San Ysidro tournament. The Cougars’ list of championship medal contenders include Caleb Cardenas (119), Dylan Sawyer (125), Kevin Doyle (140), Justin Graff (152), Garret Estevane (171), Ryan Pearl (189), Matt Norton (215) and Robert Forester (285). Other medal contenders include Dylan Lincoln (103) and Todd Graff (135).

Cardenas and Robert Forester both finished third in their respective weight classes at the Monte Vista Invitational while Todd Graff and Pearl each finished fifth.

As many as eight different schools could send at least on wrestler to the championship round of this year’s conference finals.

Other title contenders include Helix’s Stephen Alvarez (135), Victor Richmond (140) and Patrick Phelan (215), West Hills’ Josh Carbajal (140) and Nick Gilchriest (145), Grossmont’s Gianna Battaglia (112), Valentin Cueavas (119), Yosuf Wahid (152) and Kazim Wahid (160), El Capitan’s C.J. Bernard (103), Garrett Ludwig (130), Tony Sangermano (135), Jacob Dodge (145) and Philip Kelly (171).

Santana 171-pounder Blake Kahler took seventh place in his weight class at the prestigous Londos Invitational the first week in January and followed that up with a third-place finish at the San Pasqual Invitational in mid-January. Santana heavyweight Mike Jenkins placed eighth at the Londos tournament.

Richmond (fourth) and Phelen (fifth) both earned medals at last weekend’s Helix tournament along with teammate A.J. Agustin (fourth, 112) and Mike Converse (fourth, 145). The Highlanders finished eighth in the team standings — one-half point behind Monte Vista.

The 189-pound weight class should be the toughest at the conference finals, with the winner potentially vying for Outstanding Upper Weight honors. The top three contenders include Valhalla’s Thomas (MVP at the El Cajon Invitational), Granite Hills’ Phillips and Steele Canyon’s Pearl.

Phillips edged Pearl by a 4-2 overtime score during the semifinals of the Monte Vista tournament.

Valhalla 42, Granite Hills 36
Thursday, Feb. 1, 2007 at Granite Hills High School
140: Colin Thomas (Valhalla) pinned Brent Harkins (Granite Hills). Valhalla leads 6-0.
145: Willy Horner (Granite Hills) pinned Steven Lewis (Valhalla). Teams tied 6-6.
152: Jacob Castillo (Granite Hills) decisioned Waseem Sako (Valhalla) 8-3. Granite Hills leads 9-6.
160: Derek Cockrum (Granite Hills) wins by 11-4 decision. Granite Hills leads 12-6.
171: Nathan Pastore (Valhalla) pinned Jason Ladnier (Granite Hills). Teams tied 12-12.
189: Justin Phillips (Granite Hills) wins by forfeit. Granite Hills leads 18-12.
215: Chris Wright (Valhalla) pinned Steven Rouleau (Granite Hills). Teams tied 18-18.
285: Joe Savala (Granite Hills) pinned Jeremy Flesner (Valhalla). Granite Hills leads 24-18.
103: Zach McClanahan (Granite Hills) pinned Charles Strampfer (Valhalla). Granite Hills leads 30-18.
112: Tony Espinoza (Valhalla) pinned Brock Janneberg (Granite Hills). Granite Hills leads 30-24.
119: Landon Holmes (Valhalla) pinned Dylan Rubio (Granite Hills). Teams tied 30-30.
125: Zack Maguire (Valhalla) pinned Ryan Garat (Granite Hills). Valhalla leads 36-30.
130: Leo Ruffino (Valhalla) pinned John Elliott (Granite Hills). Valhalla leads 42-30.
135: Ryan Bender (Granite Hills) wins by forfeit. Valhalla wins 42-36.