Grossmont Conference Report
Steele Canyon claws foes at Helix varsity tourney
Cougars place third, gear up for conference finals

Posted Feb. 9, 2009
The 2008-09 Grossmont Conference wrestling championship tournament is scheduled Saturday, Feb. 14, at West Hills High School. One of the teams favored to capture the team championship has to be the Steele Canyon Cougars, who look to be poised for a record-setting season.

The Cougars were toying with something remarkable at last Saturday's 37-team Robert Jenkins Memorial tournament at Helix High School -- winning the team title. The Cougars won the 11-team conference tournament title two years ago but have never claimed the team title at a major regular season event.

Head coach Dan Kida's team medaled seven wrestlers at this year's Helix varsity tournament, placing four mat men in the championship finals and winning one individual title. Steele Canyon entered the finals leading the field in team points. But a blockbuster showing by Westview in the final round catapulted the Wolverines instead to a history-marking event.

Westview, with five finalists and three champions, finished with the team title after scoring 210.5 points. Vista, a longtime North County powerhouse, finished second with 162 points. Steele Canyon was third with 155.5 points.

The Cougars will compete in the upcoming San Diego Section Division III championship tournament (Westview is in Division II and Vista is in Division I) and could be a favorite to capture the team title.

That would be a watershed moment for the program.

Kida prefers to remain cautiously optimistic, saying his team's post-season goals remain "undetermined" at this point.

"You have to wait and see who your competition is and how you match up. But I feel good coming out of this tournament," Kida said.

After finishing ahead of traditional North County powers Torrey Pines (fourth, 145 points) and Carlsbad (fifth, 144 points), one has to think that the Cougars match up well against any of the other top teams in the section except for defending San Diego Masters champion Poway, ranked fourth in the state, and perhaps the Brawley Wildcats, the section's No. 2-ranked team.

Monte Vista finished seventh at this year's Helix varsity tournament, followed by Grossmont (12th place), Helix (13th place), West Hills (14th place) and El Capitan (18th).

Steele Canyon and Grossmont are the respective front-runners to sew up Grossmont South League and Grossmont North League dual titles. Grossmont's final league dual is against Santana on Thursday while Steele Canyon visits Mt. Miguel.

The Cougars' four finalists at last weekend's Helix varsity tournament included Jacob Lincoln (second, 112 pounds), Cody Rowland (second, 130 pounds), Adam Cham (first, 135 pounds) and Todd Graff (second, 145 pounds). Cham was named the tournament's outstanding lower weight wrestler after going 5-0 with two pins and a 9-2 finals victory against the top-seeded wrestler in the weight class.

Rowland and Graff also had two pins apiece.

Dylan Sawyer finished in a tie for third place at 125 pounds while Alex Piscitelli won the consolation title at 140 pounds and Jesse Cardenas tied for the 103-pound consolation title.

Grossmont's Ryan Taylor captured the 140-pound individual championship and West Hills' Endhyr Meza captured the 215-pound championship.

Meza, the top seed in his weight class, advanced to the finals on the strength of two successive pins and recorded a 9-6 finals victory over his opponent from Vista to improve to 26-3 on the season. Taylor, seeded fifth, defeated the fourth- and first-seeded wrestlers in his weight class before recording a win by injury default in the championship round against his opponent from Torrey Pines. Taylor scored two wins by major decision in the tournament.

Monte Vista's highest place-winners included Alex Rossell (third, 189 pounds) and Pepe Martinez (third, 285 pounds). Martinez had four pins but lost in the semifinals to the eventual weight class champion from Torrey Pines.

Helix's top medalists were Dorian Huynh (third, 103 pounds) and E.J. Perkins (fourth, 189 pounds).

Mat attack
Grossmont captured the team title at this year's Grossmont Conference freshman tournament. "We've got mostly juniors on the varsity, so it looks good (for the future)," Footrhillers coach Todd Bell said.

Grossmont Conference Report:
Cougars in position to claim 2nd consecutive league dual title

Posted Feb. 1, 2009
If the late Glen Takahashi could peer down in the Steele Canyon High School wrestling room, he’d likely be smiling. Takahashi, the legendary Valhalla coach, came out of retirement earlier this season to help coach the Cougars alongside his cousin Dan Kida, the Steele Canyon head coach.

Takahashi, despite a recent history of heart problems, returned to coach the sport he loved and mentor young athletes. He died Dec. 31 at 59. An estimated 1,000 mourners attended a memorial service Jan. 11 at Faith Chapel in Spring Valley.

Kida and his Cougars were among front-row mourners.

It appears Steele Canyon will do final homage to Takahashi’s memory by capturing their second consecutive Grossmont South League championship after racking up recent dual meet victories against the Monte Vista Monarchs and Valhalla Norsemen, considered the two top-line challengers for the title.

The Cougars out-pointed the Norsemen, 37-28, on Jan. 29 after previously defeating the cross-town rival Monarchs, 35-30, on Jan. 22.

Both duals were at Steele Canyon in front of packed crowds. The contest against Monte Vista went down to the final match, with fans roaring and the stands shaking. One observer said that if only the rest of the San Diego Section had duals like that one — reminiscent of the old Monte Vista-Valhalla match-ups — that wrestling would be at the top of high school sports.

Emotions and school spirit were at a similar high a week later when the Cougars hosted the Norsemen. It was Senior Night at Steele Canyon and the Cougars also chose to honor the Takahashi family. Both ceremonies combined to produce a heart-warming moment for all those in attendance.

The dual victory was the second consecutive against Valhalla and served to legitimize Steele Canyon as the next wrestling giant in East County.

The Cougars won seven of the 14 contested matches, including five by pin.

Steele Canyon will now set its sights on capturing the team title at the Grossmont Conference championship tournament Feb. 14 at West Hills High School and the Division III championship title Feb. 21 at Valhalla High School.

This year’s San Diego Masters state qualifying tournament is scheduled Feb. 27-28 at Olympian High School in eastern Chula Vista. The state championship tournament is the first weekend of March in Bakersfield.

Will a Cougar be represented on the mat in Bakersfield? Stay tuned. There just might be.

Steele Canyon faced off the season by placing third at the Carlsbad Invitational, with 130-pounder Cody Rowland earning honors as the tournament’s outstanding lower weight wrestler. Three Cougars overall advanced to the championship round.

Rowland entered the 2008-09 season listed as an honorable mention in his weight class in the state rankings. Joining Rowland in the finals were Todd Graff (second at 152 pounds) and Angel Ramirez (second at 171 pounds).

Rowland was nursing an injury for the midseason El Cajon Invitational but Steele Canyon, buoyed by four medalists, still managed a 12th-place finish (third-best among section teams) in the 74-team regional-draw tournament. Graff placed fourth at 140 pounds, Ramirez was fifth at 162 pounds, Dylan Lincoln was seventh at 125 pounds and Adam Cham was eighth at 135 pounds.

More recently, the Cougars finished a close second behind Rancho Bernardo at the San Pasqual Invitational Jan. 24 at San Pasqual High School. Steele Canyon had four individual champions: Lincoln (119), Rowland (130), Graff (145) and Ramirez (152). Three Cougars finished second: Jesse Cardenas (103), Dylan Sawyer (125) and Cham (135). Overall, Steele Canyon had eight wrestlers place among the top three finishers in their respective weight classes.

The Cougars sent a partial team to the San Ysidro Invitational, held Jan. 31 at San Ysidro High School. Sawyer (second, 130 pounds), Ryan Doolittle (fourth, 125 pounds), Jacob Dunning (fourth, 135 pounds) and Michael Durham (fourth, 140 pounds) all managed top four finishes in their weights. Overall, Steele Canyon walked out of the gym with five medalists as Easton Simmons placed fifth at 189 pounds..

In the climactic dual victory against Valhalla, Lincoln, Rowland, Graff, Ramirez and Alex Perlin all won by fall. For Valhalla, Renzo Salazar, who placed second in his weight class at the El Cajon Invitational, recorded a win by major decision at 145 pounds while Norseman teammate Jordan Saunders (fourth at the ECI) scored a pin at 103 pounds.

San Pasqual Invitational
The Grossmont Foothillers finished seventh in the team standings. Ryan Taylor was the top individual finisher for the Foothillers at fourth in his 140-pound weight class.

Also for Grossmont, Jacob McDaniel (119 pounds) and Alex Yoder (152 pounds) finished fifth in their respective weight class while teammates Joseph Peake and Nicholas Travers placed sixth at 125 pounds and 135 pounds, respectively.

Mater Dei Duals
The El Cajon Valley Braves, El Capitan Vaqueros, Granite Hills Eagles and Mt. Miguel Matadors participated in the inaugural Mater Dei varsity team tournament Jan. 17 at Mater Dei High School. The Braves finished with three gold medalists: Sergio Cruz (5-0 at 112 pounds), Frank Vasquez (5-0 at 125 pounds) and Bewar Abdulqadir (5-0 at 145 pounds). Keith Kelly (5-0 at 125 pounds) earned a gold medal for the Vaqueros. The Matadors had two gold medalists: Dylan Marx (4-0 at 140 pounds) and Natone Morgan (4-0 at 152).

Silver medalists included El Capitan’s Tony Marc (4-1 at 119 pounds) and Brad Schwarte (4-1 at 171); and Mt. Miguel’s Vincent Stewart (4-1 at 160 pounds).

Bronze medalists included El Cajon Valley’s Mohammad Barat (3-2 at 135 pounds); El Capitan’s Todd Clarke (3-2 at 112 pounds), Michael Butcher (3-2 at 130 pounds), James Skykowsky (3-2 at 135 pounds), Shawn Barton (3-2 at 140 pounds), Shane Infinger (3-2 at 152 pounds) and Anthony Solise (3-2 at 189 pounds); and Mt. Miguel’s Samson Tausuga (3-2 at heavyweight).

East County Report:
Monarchs make statement with third-place mat finish

Posted Jan. 13, 2008
When the San Diego Section wrestling rankings hit Internet message boards on Jan. 1, two East County teams were included among the top 10 tournament teams -- Valhalla at eighth and Steele Canyon at 10th -- but one (Monte Vista) was conspicuously absent. That could change -- possibly as soon as this Thursday when Monte Vista and Valhalla square off in high profile dual meet action.

In the meantime, it it appears the Monarchs made a strong case to regain the respect of the section's ranking-makers by their strong third-place finish behind both the Poway Titans and Brawley Wildcats -- the top two ranked teams in the section -- at last Saturday's Monte Vista Invitational.

Monte Vista tallied up 190 points to finish just five points behind second place Brawley. Both teams were well behind Poway, the fourth-ranked team in the state.

The Monarchs led all East County teams in the 27-team field with nine medalists. Monte Vista placed three wrestlers in the finals, coming away with one individual champion, two runners-up, four third-place medalists, one fourth-place medalist and one fifth-place medalist.

The Monarchs will face off the Grossmont South League dual meet season at Valhalla on Thursday, Jan. 15.

The defending league champion Cougars await both longtime East County powers in subsequent mat encounters.

Monte Vista's three finalists in the Jan. 10 tournament were led by senior heavyweight champion Pepe Martinez and also included sophomore 140-pounder Shervin Iraniha and junior 160-pounder Kenneth Tribble.

The Monarchs' four third-place medal-winners included Levi Annon (103),Alex Aviala (152), Shamar Barnes (171) and Alex Rossell (189). Brady Beamon finished fourth at 112 pounds while Fred Parks finished fifth at 103 pounds.

Martinez decisioned San Pasqual senior Micah Hodges, 3-1, to capture the 285-pound weight class title. Martinez, who placed third at last year's divisional finals, made his tournament debut this season a highly successful one with a 4-0 record that featured two pins and an 11-0 major decision besides his championship match victory.

Hodges, who was top-seeded in the weight class, opened the tournament with a pair of pins before edging Poway's John Castle, 5-3, in the semifinals. Martinez, who was seeded second in the weight class, topped Escondido's Augie DeSantis by a 1:51 pin in the semifinals. Martinez opened the tournament with a 1:02 fall against University of Irvine's Ali Algohary and defeated Eastlake's Matthew Gaughan, 11-0, in the quarterfinals.

Hodges, who previously placed seventh at the four state-draw, 60-plus team El Cajon Invitational, saw his record dip to 19-3 with the finals loss to Martinez.

Iraniha (17-5) lost by an 11-3 major decision to Poway senior Conrad Snell, the reigning ECI champion, while Poway senior Ian Roy captured a hotly-contested 2-0 finals decision over Tribble (12-6). Snell, who advanced to the finals with three successive pins, improved to 21-3 with his finals victory.

Iraniha, who was seeded second in his weight class to Snell, opened the tournament with a 1:10 fall against Scripps Ranch's Robert Morris and defeated San Pasqual's Bryce Jaman by an 18-2 technical fall in the quarterfinals before advancing to the championship round with an 11-7 decision over Torrey Pines' Alex Pisacane.

Tribble, the No. 2 seed in his weight class, opened the tournament with pins against Grossmont's Gabe Padilla (3:04) and Mt. Miguel's Vincent Stewart (1:58) before recording a 17-7 major decision against third-seeded Mike Velasco of Brawley in the semifinals. Top-seeded Roy scored a pair of pins and an 11-3 major decision to advance to the championship match.
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Annon, Beamon, Avilaa and Barnes all qualified for the semifinals while Rossell wrestled back from a quarterfinal-round setback to earn his third-place medal.

Annon, seeded third, dropped an 8-0 major decision in the semifinals to eventual 103-pound champion Josh Chua (15-6) of Poway. Annon, who finished 4-1 on the day with two pins and one technical fall, squared off with a 17-2 victory over Morse's Josue Mata and followed with a 1:51 pin of Bonita Vista's Steve Johnston in the quarterfinals. Annon captured third place with a 4-1 win over Mira Mesa's Winston Lu after pinning teammate Parks in the consolation semifinals.

Parks subsequently scored a 10-3 win over Mata to place fifth.

Aviala pinned Torrey Pines' Spence Sarazin to place third in his weight class while Barnes scored a 4:35 fall against Brawley's Adam Espinoza and Rossell edged Helix's E.J. Perkins, 7-5, in other third-place bouts.

Aviala finished 4-1 with three pins. He narrowly missed advancing to the championship round with a 5-4 loss to Bonita Vista's Hector Arambula in the semifinals.

Barnes and Rosell both finished 4-1 with one pin.

Beamon, a freshman, opened the tournament with a pair of first-period pins before running into eventual weight class champion Gabe Brown (20-2) of Poway in the semifinals. Beamon won his consolation semifinal match by fall but placed fourth after a 7-2 loss to Granite Hills' Zach McClanahan in the fhird-place match. McClanahan, the weight's No. 3 seeded wrestler, advanced to the semifinals before losing to second-seeded Anthony Salinas (18-3) of Hilltop.

McClanahan finished the tournament with two pins.

A total of nine County teams participated in this year's Monte Vista Invitational. Granite Hills, with two medalists, finished 11th with 75 team points while Helix, also with two medal-winners, placed 14th with 51.5 points.

Grossmont (two medalists, 47 points), El Capitan (45 points), West Hills (one medalist, 42 points), El Cajon Valley (two medalists, 38 points) and Santana (one medalist, 38 points) all followed in close proximity by placing 17th through 19th, respectively. Mt. Miguel finished 25th with 18 team points.

West Hills was led by junior 215-pounder Endhyr Meza's second-place finish. Meza (17-3) lost 8-7 to Escondido senior Moses Chairez in a rematch of their third-place bout at the recent ECI tournament.

Ryan Garat (fifth, 135 pounds) joined McClanahan in the semifinals for Granite Hills.

For Helix, Adrian Najera (130) finished third while Perkins (189) was fourth. Najera decisioned Scripps Ranch's P.K. Briek, 6-0, to earn his medal after making it as far as the semifinals before losing 6-5 to eventual weight class champion Mitchell Maya of Brawley.

Both Najera and Perkins made the semifinals.

Grossmont's medalists included Joey Peake (fifth, 130) and Alex Yodor (fifth, 152).

El Cajon Valley's medalists included Bewar Abdulqadir (fourth, 140) and Masud Hasan (fifth, 135). Abdulqadir advanced to the semifinals.

Santana's Chris Eidson placed fifth at 215 pounds.

Poway senior Henry Yorba (135 pounds) earned the outstanding light weight light award after scoring four pins (three first-period falls) while teammate Ian Daube (189 pounds) was named the tournament's outstanding upper weight wrestler after recording two pins and two technical falls.

The team champion Titans walked out of the Monarchs' gym with nine individual champions and 12 medalists. Poway qualified 11 mat men for the finals.

Bonita Vista, which finished fourth behind Monte Vista in the team standings, qualified three for the finals and totaled seven medalists overall.

The Gilbert (Ariz.) Tigers posted a strong fifth-place team finish with six medalsits. Escondido (sixth, five medalists), Hilltop (seventh, three medalists), Torrey Pines (eighth, four medalists), Morse (ninth, three medalists) and San Pasqual (10th, three medalists) rounded out the top 10 scoring teams.

ECI
Steele Canyon finished 12th with four medal-winners and Valhalla placed 17th with two medalists in the regional-draw tournament. The 2008 event, held Dec. 29-30 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, attracted teams from throughout California, Arizona, Nevada and Washington.

The Cougars' four place-winners included Dylan Lincoln (seventh, 125), Adam Cham (eighth, 135), Todd Graff (fourth, 145) and Angel Ramirez (fifth, 160).

Renzo Salazar (second, 140) and Jordan Saunders (fourth, 103) medaled for the Norsemen. Salazar won his first four matches in the tournament before meeting Liberty's Greg Kaplan in the finals. Kaplan earned the outstanding lower weight award with two pins and two technical falls.

Poway captured the team title with nine medalists, finishing 24.5 points ahead of Lake Stevens, Wash., which also had nine place-winners. Among San Diego Section teams, Brawley was 11th, Westview was 15th, Rancho Buena Vista was 19th and Bonita Vista was 20th.

East County Report:
Monarchs face off wrestling season with second-place tourney finish

Posted Dec. 20, 2008
With a second-place team finish at the season-opening Battle by the Beach tournament Dec. 6 at Mar Vista High School, the Monte Vista wrestling team appears on course to accomplish quite a bit on the mat this season — one that could end with a lot of shiny hardware in the school’s trophy case.

“I think we have a good shot at CIF,” Monarchs coach Steve Bulette said. “I think it will be us, Steele Canyon, Valhalla, Ramona and Mt. Carmel all vying for the team title. We all return about the same number of CIF placers. It would be nice to run the table by winning league, conference and CIF.”

The Monarchs battled Division IV pre-season favorite Brawley for the team points lead for most of the tournament until the Wildcats — winners of eight consecutive San Diego Section division titles — pulled away in the later rounds. Brawley finished the 26-team tournament with eight finalists and seven weight class champions. Monte Vista had five finalists and one champion.

Brawley won the team points battle 243-180.

Monarch finalists included Levi Annon (103 pounds), Shervin Iraniha (145), Alex Avila (152), Kenneth Tribble (171) and Alex Rossell (215).

Rossell pinned Serra’s Jordi Kata in 5:54 to emerge as Monte Vista’s lone tourney champion.

Annon dropped a 6-0 finals decision to Brawley’s Arthur Carmona while Iraniha dropped a 5-2 decision to Brawley’s Anthony Carmona. Avila lost by 1:25 pin to Brawley’s Eddie Ruiz while Tribble dropped a tight 8-6 decision to Rancho Bernardo’s Jon Beck.

The Monarchs also had five other wrestlers advance to the semifinal round: Brady Beamon (112), Gabe Rios (125), Garrett Bates (140), Shamar Barnes (171) and Donovan Santos (189).

Beamon, Rios and Bates all finished third in their respective weight classes while Barnes and Santos earned fifth-place medals.

Overall, the Monarchs sent 10 mat men to the awards stand (first- through fifth-place finishers). Bulette received the Larry Borden Memorial Coaches award.

Four other Grossmont Conference wrestlers made the finals: El Cajon Valley’s Masud Hasan (135), Granite Hills’ Victor Castro (140), Helix’s E.J. Perkins (189) and West Hills’ Enhyr Meza.

Perkins and Meza both captured weight class titles. Perkins scored a 17-3 major decision against his finals opponent, Chula Vista’s Roman Molina, while Meza pinned Rancho Bernardo’s Charlie Ghreer in 1:40.

Hasan dropped a 13-4 major decision to Brawley’s J.L. Mayo while Castro dropped an 11-8 decision to Brawley’s Erik Villalobos.

Meza left the gym as the most decorated East County grappler after being presented with awards for most pins and outstanding heavyweight wrestler. Meza spent a total of 6:22 on the mat in pinning his four opponents. He opened the tournament with fall times of 1:35 and 1:22 and added a 3:41 pin in the semifinals.

Perkins pinned his way to the finals, recording falls in 1:19, 54 seconds and 4:48.

Helix finished fifth in the team standings with 111.5 points. The Highlanders had three wrestlers advance to the semifinals. Joining Perkins in the semifinals were Dorian Huynh (103) and Vincent Richmond (125). Both Huynh (three pins) and Richmond (two pins) placed third in their respective weights.

West Hills placed sixth in the team standings. Javier Amir (130) joined Meza in the semifinals for the Wolf Pack. Amir finished third in his weight class.

Granite Hills (ninth in the team standings) had three grapplers advance to the semifinals. Joining Castro were Steven Martin (135) and Ryan Garat (145). Both Martin and Garat placed fifth.

One of the Eagles’ top mat men, Zach McClanahan, had to go extra rounds to finish third in his 112-pound division after being upset by a 5-4 decision by Brawley’s Jonathan Sandoval in the quarterfinals. McClanahan, seeded second in the weight class, rebounded with three consecutive wins in the consolation wrestle-backs to finish 4-1 on the day with three pins.

El Cajon Valley’s three semifinalists included Sergio Cruz (112), Bekes Suleiman (119) and Hasan. Both Cruz and Suleiman finished fifth. The Braves finished 12th in the team standings.

El Capitan’s Nathan Duggie advanced to the semifinals with quick pins of 1:40 and 40 seconds. He finished third in his 160-pound division. The Vaqueros placed 13th in the team standings.

Carlsbad Invitational
Three Grossmont Conference teams competed at the Carlsbad Invitational, also on Dec. 6. Steele Canyon, with three finalists and one champion (Lower Wright MVP Cody Rowland at 130 pounds), finished third in the team standings behind tourney champ Carlsbad and Poway. Grossmont (one finalist, Jacob McDaniel at 119) placed seventh while Santana was 14th in the 19-team field.

Mat attack
Valhalla is scheduled to host this year’s San Diego Section Division III championship tournament. The Norsemen are preparing to host the region’s largest regular season tournament, the 38th annual El Cajon Invitational, Dec. 29-30 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. The event will take place in the fairgrounds' Bing Crosby Hall. Wrestling starts at 9 a.m. on Dec. 29 and 10 a.m. on Dec. 30. Finals are scheduled to start at 5 p.m. to close out the second day of competition.