Grossmont Conference Report:
Foothillers put their mark on 2008-09 mat campaign with league dual title

Posted Feb. 16, 2009
Todd Bell got a taste of winning championships, albeit mostly individual ones while competing on the Grossmont High School wrestling team in the early 1990s. The Foothillers were not exactly a power then, though Bell rose to the very top of chart as far as individuals were concerned in the San Diego Section.

As a Masters champion, he got to compete at the state championship tournament, coming home with a coveted medal.

Bell has returned to coach at his alma mater and things have definitely begun to take shape on the mat for the Foothillers — two successive Grossmont North League dual championships.

Grossmont shared last year’s dual title with a 3-1 league record but secured sole bragging rights this year with a 4-0 record after defeating visiting Santana, 58-19, on Feb. 12.

The Foothillers previous defeated El Capitan, West Hills and El Cajon Valley in league competition.

The future looks bright, in fact, for Grossmont, which captured the team title at this year’s conference freshman tournament.

“We’ve got mostly juniors on the varsity, so it looks good (for the near future),” said Bell , who was named the Grossmont North League Coach of the Year for the 2008-09 mat campaign.

The Foothillers placed fifth in the team standings at last Saturday’s conference championship tournament at West Hills High School but once again recorded the most points among the five Grossmont North League teams entered in the tournament.

Bell’s bunch racked up 77 points to finish ahead of league rivals West Hills (seventh, 55 points), El Capitan (eighth, 43 points), El Cajon Valley (ninth, 35 points) and Santana (10th, 31 points).

The Foothillers left their mark as Greg VanOosbree captured the 171-pound championship en route to earning the Outstanding Upper Weight wrestler award. Also for Grossmont, Jacob McDaniel (119 pounds) and Ryan Taylor (140 pounds) finished third in their respective weight classes while Joey Peake (125 pounds) and Ron Mcullough (189 pounds) each placed fourth in their weight divisions.

Two-time defending Grossmont South League dual champion Steele Canyon captured the conference tournament team title with 172 points. The top four teams all were from the Grossmont South League. Monte Vista finished second with 161.5 points, followed by Granite Hills in third place with 154 points and Valhalla in fourth place with 139.5 points.

Granite Hills defeated Valhalla, 34-23, on Feb. 12 to grab some much-needed momentum heading into the conference finals.

Helix finished sixth in the conference tourney team standings with 61.5 points.

Altogether, Steele Canyon placed 10 wrestlers on the top four rungs on the awards stand, led by individual champions Dylan Lincoln (119 pounds), Todd Graff (145 pounds) and Angel Ramirez (152 pounds). The Cougars had eight finalists, with Jesse Cardenas (103 pounds), Dylan Sawyer (125 pounds), Cody Rowland (130 pounds), Adam Cham (135 pounds) and Jacob Dunning (161 pounds) all finishing second in their respective weights.

Jake Lincoln (112 pounds) and Alex Piscitelli (140) both placed fourth.

Monte Vista and Valhalla each had four individual champions while Granite Hills and West Hills each had one individual champion.

Wrestlers from six schools won individual titles at this year’s conference finals and grapplers from nine schools were represented in the finals.

Monte Vista’s four individual champions included Shervin Iraniha (135 pounds), Shamar Barnes (160 pounds), Alex Rossell (189 pounds) and Pepe Martinez (285 pounds). The Monarchs totaled six finalists, with Alex Avila (145 pounds) and Kenneth Tribble (152 pounds) both finishing second. Brady Beamon placed third at 112 pounds and Donaven Santos (171 pounds) and Pat Fleckenstein (215 pounds) finished fourth to give Monte Vista nine top four place-winners.

Valhalla’s four individual champions included Jordan Saunders (103 pounds), Eyan Schmehr (112 pounds), Wade Templeton (130 pounds) and Renzo Salazar (140 pounds).

Salazar earned honors as the conference tournament’s outstanding light weight wrestler.

Zach Maguire (125 pounds) and Zack Allen (152 pounds) both finished third in their weights for the Norsemen while David Holman finished fourth in the heavyweight division. Overall Valhalla had seven top four placers.

Granite Hills had five finalists at this year’s tournament, led by 125-pound champion Victor Castro. Zach McClanahan (112 pounds), Danny Neff (119 pounds), Johnny Valencia (171 pounds) and Jesse Sheard (heavyweight) all placed second in their weights. Also for the Eagles, Steven Martin, Willie Horner and Donovan Truesdale all finished third while Eddy Valencia and Ryan Garat placed fourth.

In all, Granite Hills had 10 wrestlers step place among the top four finishers in their weight classes in the combined conference field.

West Hills’ Endhyr Meza rounded out this year’s conference individual parade of champions by capturing the 215-pound division over Santana’s Chris Eidson.

Helix (E.J. Perkins, second at 189 pounds) and El Cajon Valley (Bewar Abdulqadir, second at 140 pounds) each had one finalist.

Dorian Huynh (103 pounds), Matt McChesney (135 pounds) and Quantail Jackson (171 pounds) all finished third in their respective weights for Helix.

Sergio Cruz finished fourth at 119 pounds for El Cajon Valley.

James Sykowski (135 pounds), Jake Arcamo (145 pounds) and Sean Robinson (152 pounds) all finished fourth in their respective weights for El Capitan.

West Hills had two additional third-place medalists: Jared Baxter (189 pounds) and Sahym Meza (heavyweight).

For Mt. Miguel, Dylan Marx finished third at 145 pounds while teammate Vincent Stewart was fourth at 160 pounds.

The wrestling season heads to a rapid close with Saturday’s divisional championship tournaments. Valhalla will host the Division III finals while Escondido will host the Division I championship meet, San Pasqual will host the Division II finals and Brawley will host the Division IV finals.