2006-07 San Diego Section
Wrestlers to Watch


Monte Vista Invitational Recap

Robert Grey: Hear this Monarch roar

Posted Jan. 11, 2007
The Monte Vista Monarchs delivered quite a collective roar by placing third in the team standings at last weekend’s Monte Vista Invitational wrestling tournament. The third-place finish is something to definitely make some noise about considering the top two teams were Poway, ranked first in the state, and Southern Section power Centennial Corona.

The Monarch grappler making the loudest roar had to be senior Robert Grey, who won his 112-pound weight class with a 12-10 decision against Tehachapi’s Jordan Steinbach.

Grey was pleased not only by his own first-place finish but the showing by his entire team. Monte Vista, wracked by injuries and illness, pushed hard to crack the top 20 list at the San Diego Holiday Classic in mid-December, a tournament the Monarchs also host.

“I’ve wanted to win this tournament since my sophomore year when I first wrestled in it,” said Grey, who finished 4-0 with two pins and a 16-2 major decision.

Grey finished fifth at the same weight at last year’s tournament, thus further solidifying himself as one of the top wrestlers this year in the section in the weight class.

He finished ahead of Imperial’s Casey Derrick (fourth), Escondido’s Rody Garcia (fifth) and Morse’s Ryan Fernandez (sixth) — three San Diego Section wrestlers to crack the top eight finishers in the weight class. Grey, who was seeded second in the weight class behind the top-seeded Steinbach, pinned Derrick in 1:44 in the semifinals.

“Winning this tournament was one of my goals I wanted to accomplish,” said Grey, who sports a 22-5 record this season. “I want to keep working hard and keep improving. My goals are to still win league and CIF. I want to show well at Five Counties this weekend.”

Grey was one of seven Monte Vista wrestlers to earn medals at the 24-team tournament — the only San Diego Section tournament in which Poway’s varsity A team competes. The Titans, in a stupefying show of dominance, had all 13 of their wrestlers reach the finals, with 10 winning weight class titles.

Joining Grey on the awards stand were Monarch teammates Levi Annon (fifth, 103), Hunter Beamon (fifth, 125), Lonnie Alexander (fifth, 152), Chris Eade (third, 171), Norberto Cadena (fifth, 215) and Pepe Martinez (fifth, 285).

Eade, who finished third along with Grey at the San Diego Holiday Classic, finished 4-1 with two pins and a 16-5 major decision. The Monte Vista grappler opened the tourney seeded fifth in his weight division but quickly took care of the competition with falls against Torrey Pines’ Shawn Murphy-Lee and Eastlake’s A.J. Romero. Romero had been seeded fourth in the weight bracket but Eade recorded a stunning 25-second pin to advance to the semifinals against eventual champion Travis Brown of Poway.

Brown, who pinned Eade in the third period, entered the tournament ranked eighth in the state.

Granite Hills’ Justin Phillips was the only other East County wrestler to advance to the championship round. Phillips extended his season record to 20-2 following a 5-1 loss to Poway’s Sean Hill (17-3). Phillips further entrenched himself in the section rankings after recording a key 4-2 overtime win against Steele Canyon’s Ryan Pearl in the semifinals.

East County notepad
Steele Canyon finished sixth with four medalists. Caleb Cardenas (119) and Robert Forrester (285) both finished third in their respective weight classes while Todd Graff (135) and Ryan Pearl (189) each finished fifth.

Cardenas, Pearl and Forrester advanced as far as the semifinals, with both dropping matches to eventual weight class champions from team champion Poway. Pearl lost two overtime matches in the tournament. Graff recorded three consecutive wins in the single-elimination wrestle-backs after losing his opening-round match.

Granite Hills finished in a tie for 13th in the team standings with two place-winners. Zach McClanahan (fifth, 103) joined Phillips on the award stand.


Metro Conference notepad
Eastlake, which finished the midseason San Diego Holiday Classic with two place-winners and a top half team finish out of 60 teams, had three wrestlers walk out of the gym with trophies. Tony Denegall was the highest Eastlake grappler to place by defeating Natomas’ Isaac Lopez, 3-2, in the third-place match at 125 pounds. Both Hawk Thompson (145) and A.J. Romero (171) finished fourth in their respective weight classes.

The goals for all three medalists are the same.

“To win CIF and make state,” said Denegall finished first at last year’s Mesa League 112-pound finals en route to a third-place finish at the San Diego Section Division II championship meet as a sophomore

At the Monte Vista Invitational, Denegall (fourth at the San Diego Holiday Classic) finished 4-1 with two major decisions. He opened the tournament with an 8-0 major decision against Mira Mesa’s Leeland Cuenista before dropping a 9-5 quarterfinals match against Monte Vista’s Hunter Beamon, a returing state qualifier.

The Eastlake grappler won his ensuing three consolation matches, defeating Torrey Pines’ Sean Richland (7-2), A.B. Miller’s Alfredo Velazquez (10-2) and Lopez.

Thompson (third at the San Diego Holiday Classic) also won his opening round match at the Monte Vista Invitational by a major decision (18-5 against Tehachapi’s Eric Harroun) before dropping to the consolation wrestle-backs following a loss against Centennial Corona’s Denzel Hawins in the quarterfinals. Thompson won his next two consolation bouts — 10-3 against Steele Canyon’s Connor Hanten and 10-4 against Santa Fe Christian’s Kyler Hasson — before rematching with Hawkins in the third-place match.

Hawkins prevailed once again, this time by a 5-1 decision.

Romero won his first-round match by a 1:35 pin (against Natomas’ William Killian) before dropping to the consolation wrestle-backs following a loss to Monte Vista’s Chris Eade in the quarterfinals. Romero won his next two bouts — 9-7 against Techapi’s Jerry Wehust and 9-3 against Steele Canyon’s Garrett Estevane — before rematching with Eade for third place. The Monarch grappler relegated Romero to fourth place with a 16-5 major decision.

Overall, the Titans finished in a tie for 13th place out of 24 competing teams. Hilltop, with four place-winners, finished in ninth place in the team standings.

Big Bear report
El Capitan finished third as a team at the Big Bear tournament over the holiday break. Tony Sangermano (130) and Philip Kelly (171) both won their weight classes while C.J. Bernard (103) and Jacob Dodge (145) both finished third and Garrett Ludwig (140) was fourth.

State rankings
The initial California high school state rankings made their appearance at the turn of the New Year. Eleven San Diego Section wrestlers received rankings: Poway’s Joe Boone (first, 130); Vista’s Anthony Meza (second, 152); Poway’s Tim Boone (fourth, 125) and Hawk Ruis (fourth, 145); Valhalla’s Landon Holmes (fifth, 112); La Costa Canyon’s Elliott Dennis (fifth, 135); Poway’s Henry Yorba (sixth, 112); Santa Fe Christian’s John Mossy (sixth, 140); Carlsbad’s Jordan Taghvai (seventh, 215); and Poway’s Travis Brown (eighth, 171) and Matt Lewellen (eighth, 215).

Nine more received honorable mention: La Costa Canyon’s Bryan Grubbs (103), Poway’s Mike Hernandez (119), Santa Fe Christian’s Tyler Iwamura (130), Brawley’s Ivan Arevalo (135), Poway’s Brad Robinson (140), Anthony Almanza (152) and Jake Ray (160), Valhalla’s Chris Thomas (189) and Poway’s Sean Hill (189).

Of those 20 section wrestlers accorded state honors, 11 medaled at this year’s Monte Vista Invitational. Poway’s Hernandez, Tim Boone, Ruis, Almanza, Ray, Brown, Hill, Lewellen and Wood all emerged with first-place finishes while the Titans’ Robinson and SFC’s Iwamura both finished second.

Other state-ranked wrestlers who medaled at this year’s Monte Vista Invitational included Natomas’ Jarren Miller (third, 135) and Josh Jimenez (honorable mention, 140). Both won their weight classes at the Spring Valley tournament.

A.B. Miller’s Michael Gonzalez (light weight) and Poway’s Ruis (upper weight) earned the tournament’s outstanding wrestler awards.