Outstanding Wrestlers
Mike Hernandez (Poway) - MVP Lower Weight
Seth Adams (Westview) - MVP Upper Weight
Are the Hilltop Lancers the best team in Metro?
Posted Dec. 12, 2007Through the opening two weekends of invitational tournament competition, the Hilltop Lancers have carried the wrestling torch for the Metro Conference. The Lancers will get the opportunity to win the chance to pose with a championship trophy at Friday’s inaugural Metro Conference dual meet championships at Olympian High School.
Twelve Metro teams will compete in the dual-format tournament, with one championship trophy to be awarded, according to tournament director Jorge Mancillas. “We’ve invited all 800 students at the school to come out and watch,” Mancillas said.
Hilltop has established itself as the early leader among South County mat squads after claiming a fourth-place finish at the season opening 23-team Battle by the Beach tournament at Mar Vista High School and placing sixth in the competitively-deeper 31-team Marauder Invitational last Saturday at Mira Mesa High School.
The Lancers placed behind Monte Vista, Brawley and Poway’s B varsity team at the Mar Vista tourney and finished arrears of Fresno’s Washington Union, Mt. Carmel, Poway’s B varsity team, Westview (by 12.5 points) and Rancho Bernardo (by one point).
Hilltop had seven wrestlers advance to the award stand at the Battle by the Beach tournament and eight climb the awards podium at Mira Mesa.
Senior Javier Martinez established himself as the region’s marquee mat man by winning his 140-pound weight class at both tournaments. He recorded a 12-7 decision over Southwest’s Joseph Amavisca at Mar Vista and captured an exceptionally tight 3-2 decision from Mt. Carmel’s Brandon Hetzler at Mira Mesa.
Hilltop coach Thomas Juarez, himself a former Metro star at Montgomery, said Martinez’s strongest attribute in his wrestler repertoire has been his consistency.
“Javier has wrestled consistently throughout his matches,” the Lancer coach said. “He doesn’t let the crowd or his opponents keep him from losing his focus. His willingness to adapt in all circumstances makes him a tough wrestler to beat in the San Diego Section.”
The Metro’s lone state meet qualifier last season, Martinez has set a goal of winning the state title this season. It’s a rather lofty goal but a goal nonetheless.
He pinned his way to the finals at last weekend’s tournament, recording first-period pins in his opening two bouts and scoring a 5:23 fall against San Ysidro’s Joey Bautista in the semifinals.
Martinez recorded one pin and two major decisions at the Mar Vista tournament.
Michael Reyes captured the 119-pound title at the Battle by the Beach tournament, earning the outstanding lower weight award in the process. He finished third at the Marauder Invitational – his only loss being a 10-6 decision to Brawley’s J.L. Mayo in the quarterfinals. Reyes, seeded fourth in the weight class, finished 3-1 with three pins. He recorded a 4:24 fall against Imperial’s Casey Derrick to tie for third with Mayo. Mayo was seeded fifth and Derrick seeded sixth.
Among Hilltop’s other medalists:
Angel Seville placed fifth at 103 pounds with a 3-0 decision over Mission Bay’s Juan Solis.
Anthony Salinas placed fourth at 112 pounds after losing by 2:56 fall against Brawley’s Sawyer Smith.
Andy Galata placed third at 145 pounds after recording an 8-1 decision over Imperial’s Uriel Navarro.
Mike Hice placed fifth at 171 pounds after scoring a 4:20 fall against University City’s Billy Cafcules.
David Cinco placed fourth at 189 pounds after dropping a match by 25-second fall against Madison’s Langdon Johnson.
Jerry Santillan finished third at 215 pounds after pinning University City’s Anthony Esquivel in 2:38.
Hilltop competed in a junior varsity double dual meet on Dec. 6, losing a 36-36 tiebreaker to Eastlake and, in Juarez’s words, “dominating” an Otay Ranch team.
“We’ve had a couple missing (varsity) spots the last two weeks but we have a good JV team. There’s a couple wrestlers from the JV team who we picked up to fill those weights,” Juarez said. “Once we get everyone in the line-up, we should be a strong team in the South Bay area. Everyone is focused on the same goal: teamwork comes first.”
Marauder Invitational notepad
San Ysidro’s Bautista placed fourth after dropping an 8-6 decision to Grossmont’s Nick Lins at 140 pounds.
Three more Metro mat men advanced to medal-round matches.
Hilltop’s Felipe Alfaro advanced to the fifth-place match at 152 pounds, losing 7-1 to Cathedral Catholic’s Jay Aquino.
San Ysidro’s Javier Velazquez advanced to the fifth-place match at 171 pounds, losing by 1:47 pin to Washington Union’s Arturo Acosta.
Hilltop’s Andrew Aguilar advanced to the fifth-place match at 285 pounds, losing by a 5:25 pin in overtime against Morse’s Phillip Lawrence.
Washington Union won the team title by 7.5 points over Mt. Carmel. The Fresno visitors had six finalists, finishing with five champions. Highlighting Washington Union’s parade of champions was returning state champion Gilberto Camacho (103). Camacho recorded a 4-0 decision against Poway’s Gabe Brown in the finals.
Mt. Carmel had five finalists and finished with three champions while Poway had four finalists and one champion. Orange Glen had three finalists and one champion. Westview (two finalists) and Imperial also had weight class champions. A total of 11 schools were represented in the finals.
San Ysidro finished in a tie for 20th place.