2006-07 San Diego Section
Wrestlers to Watch


Grossmont Conference Finals
Men of Steele: What's so bad about feeling so good?
Cougars sweep varsity, JV team titles in show of depth, talent

Posted Feb. 12, 2007
While a league wrestling championship banner may not yet hang in the Steele Canyon High School gymnasium, the Cougars did the next best thing after finishing atop the 11-team field at the 2006-07 Grossmont Conference championship tournament Feb. 10 at West Hills High School.

League championships in wrestling are contested at the dual meet level. Valhalla defeated Monte Vista to win this year’s Grossmont South League championship, with Steele Canyon finishing in third place.

Photo: Steele Canyon's Caleb Cardenas won the 119-pound title at this year's Grossmont Conference championship tournament.

The purpose of the conference championship tournament is to determine individual conference and league champions. A trophy usually goes to the team points winner.

Clearly, the Cougars wrestling team took one giant leap forward for the sport not only on campus but also at the regional level.

Steele Canyon racked up 212.5 points at the conference finals. Monte Vista finished second with 171 points, followed by Valhalla in third place with 258.5 points. The top Grossmont North League finisher was El Capitan in fourth place with 132 points, followed by Granite Hills in fifth place with 109.5 points, Grossmont in sixth place with 100 points, Helix in seventh place with 97.5 points, West Hills in eighth place with 68 points, Santana in ninth place with 51 points, Mt. Miguel in 10th place with 37 points and El Cajon Valley in 11th place with 13 points.

Steele Canyon finished the tournament with five finalists, two champions, seven top-three placers and 12 top-four placers (out of 14 weight classes).

That was only half of the elation felt by Cougar parents, coaches and wrestlers. Steele Canyon also won the conference junior varsity tournament team title to make it a sweep of the team awards. The Cougars had six JV finalists and four individual JV champions.

The Steele Canyon coaching staff had one terse sentence to describe the turn of events: hard work pays off.

“The wrestlers are hungry and are well disciplined,” Steele Canyon assistant coach Ryan Guffey said. “The team has great unity. I knew the workouts had prepared the kids for war. It was only a matter of time before we caught up to two very good dynasty teams that have great coaches, (Valhalla’s) Mark Gerardi and (Monte Vista’s) Steve Bullete.”

Guffey, a former standout wrestler at Valhalla and later a collegiate standout as well, was not very far off the mark in his assessment. The Cougars led eventual league dual meet champion Valhalla with two weight classes remaining in their much ballyhooed matchup on Jan. 4. In another high profile dual matchup on Jan. 25, Steele Canyon and Monte Vista finished in a 34-34 tie, with the host Monarchs winning on a tie-breaker.

The Cougars appear to have peaked at the right time of the season, as evidenced by their team championship at the 20-team San Ysidro Invitational on Feb. 3 just prior to the conclusion of regular season competition.

Steele Canyon finished dual meet competition with a 3-2 league record after recording a dominating victory against Helix on Feb. 8.

Photo: Steele Canyon's Kevin Doyle, pictured competing in a dual meet against Valhalla, captured the 140-pound conference title.

The Cougars had control of first place in the team points standings from the opening round of the conference tournament to the last round. Steele Canyon accomplished the same feat at the San Yisdro tournament a week earlier.

Steele Canyon’s two conference champions for 2006-07 are Caleb Cardenas and Kevin Doyle. Cardenas captured the 119-pound division with a 3:41 pin of Grossmont’s Valentin Cuevas. Doyle defeated Helix’s Victor Richmond by a 4-2 decision to win the 140-pound title.

Runner-up finishes went to the following Cougars: Dylan Sawyer (125), J.B. Graff (152) and Garret Estevane (160). Third-place finishers for Steele Canyon included James Giblin (130), Ryan Esquibel (171) and Ryan Pearl (189) while fourth-place finishes went to Dylan Lincoln (103), Todd Graff (135), Connor Hanten (145) and Robert Forester (285).

Cardenas, who still appears to be solidifying his stature within the San Diego Section each week, could provide the surprise element for the Cougars in the upcoming San Diego Section Division III championship tournament and ensuing San Diego Masters state qualifying tournament.

The future indeed looks bright. The Men of Steele are expected to return eight varsity league place-winners and 10 varsity wrestlers overall next season, with JV league placers and champions filling in gaps.

The next step: the Division III finals Feb. 17 at Ramona High School. The Cougars will attempt to keep peaking … and wrestling.

Monte Vista, Valhalla, El Cajon Valley, El Capitan and Mt. Miguel will join Steele Canyon at the Division III tournament. In placing runner-up at the conference finals, Monte Vista totaled five finalists and four champions. Winning weight class titles for the Monarchs were Hunter Beamon (125), Chris Eade (171), Norberto Cadena (215) and Tim Pugsley (285) while Levi Annon (103) placed second.

Photo: Tim Pugsley was one of four Monarch conference champions.

Third-place Valhalla had five finalists and two champions. Landon Holmes (112) and Chris Thomas (189) both took first-place finishes for the Norsemen while Renzo Salazar (135), Chris Wright (215) and Jose Cortes (285) garnered silver medals.

El Capitan finished with two champions: Garrett Ludwig (130) and Jacob Dodge (145). Philip Kelly (171) finished runner-up for the Vaqueros, who had C.J. Bernard (103) and Tony Sangermano (135) both finish third and Alan Altimirano (215) place fourth.

Granite Hills had three finalists and two champions. Zach McClanahan topped the 103-pound weight class while Derek Cockrum captured the 160-pound division and Justin Phillips finished second at 189 pounds.

McClanahan pinned Monte Vista’s Annon in 1:56 while Cockrum defeated Steele Canyon’s Estevane by a 6-3 decision. Valhalla’s Thomas out-pointed Phillips, 9-4, in a battle of two of the top 189-pounders in the section.

Helix’ Stephen Alvarez (135) and Grossmont’s Yosuf Wahid (152) rounded out this year’s conference champions.

Alvarez, who should be in serious contention to qualify for this year’s state finals, recorded a 16-1 technical fall against Valhalla’s Salazar while Wahid was eq ually dominant with a 23-second pin of Steele Canyon’s J.B. Graff in the finals.

In other championship matches, Valhalla’s Holmes pinned Helix’s A.J. Agustine in 1:42; Monte Vista’s Beamon decisioned Steele Canyon’s Sawyer, 7-2; El Capitan’s Ludwig pinned West Hills’ Jackson Kunz in 1:22; El Capitan’s Dodge edged West Hills’ Nick Gilchriest, 14-13; Monte Vista’s Eade eged El Capitan’s Kelly, 10-9; Monte Vista’s Cadena decisioned Valhalla’s Wright, 4-2; and Monte Vista’s Pugsley pinned Valhalla’s Cortes in 2:43.

Granite Hills will compete in the upcoming Division I finals at Otay Ranch High School while Grossmont, Helix and West Hills will compete at the Division II championship meet at Mira Mesa and Santana will compete at the Division IV finals at Valley Center High School.

JV Finals
Steele Canyon out-pointed West Hills, 191-143, to claim the team title at the conference JV tournament, with Grossmont (123 points) finishing third, Monte Vista (107 points) finishing fourth and Valhalla (95 points(finishing fifth).

Individual JV champions included Valhalla’s Jordan Saunders (103) and Richard Varshock (135); Monte Vista’s Gabe Rios (112) and Orlando Avila (189); Steele Canyon’s Rob Herlihy (119), Adam Cham (125), Cody Rowland (130) and Connor Young (140); West Hills’s Blayne Benevente (145), Myles Wright (171) and Endhyr Meza (215); Santana’s Daniel Slagie (152); Mt. Miguel’s Joe Coratti (160); and Granite Hills’ Danny Demas (285).