Save the last dance: Barons, Lancers atop Metro standings

Posted Feb. 19, 2009
Hilltop High School wrestling coach Thomas Juarez credits four men — all head coaches themselves — as being instrumental in his development both as a championship wrestler and high school coach. Those men are legendary San Diego Mighty Mites coach Dale Siscon, current Bonita Vista (and former Montgomery) coach Gabe Ruz, CSU Bakersfield coach T.J. Kerr and former Hilltop coach Tim Tyler.

Siscon was instrumental in teaching Juarez the fundamentals of the sport as a youth. Ruz was instrumental in helping Juarez take his wrestling career to the next level at state and national championship tournaments. Kerr instilled the sacrifice and dedication it takes to be a championship wrestler at the collegiate level while Tyler — a legend in his own right — showed Juarez the administrative end of being a successful coach as well as a teacher.

Juarez, who posted 181 career victories on the mat at Montgomery, has combined all that mentoring into a fine start to his career as a Lancer as exemplified by two South Bay League championship banners and a one-point loss in this year’s Mesa League championship dual.

The man standing in the way of a league championship this season was a familiar face: Ruz.

Ruz, a former Olympian, and Juarez, who captured the Gorrarian Award (given to the wrestler with the most falls in the least time) at the 2002 Pac-10 championships, are in a unique situation as a former coach and former standout wrestler now battling for the same goal: a mat championship. Ruz holds a narrow edge against his former pupil in dual match-ups and made it back-to-back Metro Conference championship tournament titles after his Barons overtook the Lancers at last Saturday’s Metro finals at Sweetwater High School.

Bonita Vista trailed Hilltop by nine points in the team standings entering the final round of competition. Both teams placed six wrestlers in the championships. The Barons sent five grapplers to the top of the award stand, including three with victories by pin, while the Lancers recorded only two wins in the finals.

Bonita Vista won the team title by 12 points.

“This is going to be fun for a few years,” Ruz told Juarez as both posed for photos with their respective team trophies after all the medals were presented to this year’s championship wrestlers.

Both teams will compete in Saturday’s San Diego Section Division II championship meet at San Pasqual High School.
Bonita Vista led the conference with its five individual champions: Carlos Ayala (125 pounds), Hector Arambula (152 pounds), Nick Barnes (160 pounds), Frank Bell (171 pounds) and Cody Lopez (189 pounds). The Barons' sixth finalist, Michael Jaimes, finished second in his 112-pound division.

Barnes, Bell and Lopez all won by pins. Bonita Vista also had three wrestlers win bronze medals: Stevie Johnston (103 pounds), Moumen Deiranieh (130 pounds) and Aaron McCrorey (140 pounds).

Hilltop’s six finalists included Johnny Talamantes (103 pounds), Anthony Salinas (112 pounds), Mike Reyes (130 pounds), Matt Reyes (135 pounds), Roman Flores (145 pounds) and Chance San Miguel (189 pounds). Salinas and Mike Reyes both won their finals matches.

Two other Lancers — David Ramirez (152 pounds) and David Cinco (160 pounds) — both won bronze medals.
Bonita Vista led the conference with nine medalists while Hilltop had eight medalists.

Salinas, with two pins and a technical fall, captured honors as the tournament’s outstanding light weight wrestler while Barnes, with two pins, was named the tournament’s outstanding upper weight wrestler.

The teams had two head-to-head match-ups in the finals, with each team winning one match by pin.

A total of 11 schools were represented in the finals, with champions taking the award stand from eight area schools.

Otay Ranch is believed to have secured its first two individual conference champions in school history when Eddie Estevez (23-6) won the 103-pound title and Jonathan Henkle (27-2) captured the heavyweight division. Vic Anton (19-8) finished runner-up in his 130-pound class for good measure.

Mar Vista, this year’s South Bay League dual champion, had four finalists and one champion — 215-pounder Seville Hayes (22-9). Placing second in their respective weights for the Mariners were Danny Medrano (125 pounds), Joe Rilatt (160 pounds) and Ismael Covarrubias (171 pounds).

Eastlake had three finalists, with David McCluggage (29-7) winning the 140-pound division and teammates Keith Martin (119 pounds) and Matthew Gaughan (heavyweight) both placing second in their respective weights.

The Titans had three additional conference medalists — for a total of six — in Abraham Sanchez (third, 125 pounds), Florencio Medina (third, 135 pounds) and Stephen Lampa (third, 145 pounds).

Six other schools had finalists. San Ysidro’s Joey Alvarez (29-7) won the 119-pound division while Sweetwater’s Cesar Chavez (32-3) captured the 135-pound title and Chula Vista’s Gustavo Ortiz (31-4) won the 145-pound title. Castle Park’s Jovonnie Gonzales (26-7) finished second at 140 pound while Olympian’s Victor Viesca (21-4) was second at 152 pounds and Southwest’s Taylor Dutcher (20-7) placed runner-up at 215 pounds.

Otay Ranch looks to be a team to watch in the future after placing fifth in the team standings with an extremely young squad. Estevez and Henkle both won their weight divisions at the Jan. 31 San Ysidro Invitational as a prelude to this year’s conference finals.

“We knew we were going to have a breakout year,” Mustang coach Troy Vierra said. “I’m very happy. We’re going to return 20 to 25 wrestlers next year and with two conference champions being sophomores, we can only get better.”
Castle Park’s Gonzales made a name for himself after winning his weight class at the San Ysidro Invitational. The sophomore was injured prior to last year’s conference finals.

“He came out this year like a ball of fire,” CP coach Robert Schertzer said.

Trojan heavyweight standout Alexi Saaman is still nursing a late season injury and did not compete at last Saturday’s conference championships but could make a return at this weekend’s divisional finals, according to Schertzer. Saaman is 15-3 on the season with two losses to Poway’s heavyweight.

2009 Metro Conference Wrestling Championships
Saturday, Feb. 14, 2009 at Sweetwater High School

Varsity Tournament

Team Standings
1. Bonita Vista
2. Hilltop
3. Eastlake
4. Mar Vista
5. Otay Ranch
6. San Ysidro
7. Sweetwater
8. Olympian
9. Montgomery
10. Castle Park
11. Chula Vista

Outstanding Wrestlers
MVP Lower Weight: Anthony Salinas (Hilltop), 112 pounds
MVP Upper Weight: Nick Barnes (Bonita Vista), 160 pounds

Top Individuals
103 Pounds
1. Eddie Estevez (Otay Ranch)
2. Johnny Talamantes (Hilltop)
3. Stevie Johnston (Bonita Vista)
4. Jerick Ello (Olympian)
Championship: Estevez major decisioned Talamantes, 10-1
Third place: Johnston pinned Ello, 3:25

112 Pounds
1. Anthony Salinas (Hilltop)
2. Michael Jaimes (Bonita Vista)
3. Ricardo Yaji (Sweetwater)
4. Carlos Portillo (San Ysidro)
Championship: Salinas pinned Jaimes, 5:50
Third place: Yaji pinned Portillo, 1:31

119 Pounds
1. Joey Alvarez (San Ysidro)
2. Keith Martin (Eastlake)
3. David Valenzuela (Montgomery)
4. Ricky Haynes (Bonita Vista)
Championship: Alvarez decisioned Martin, 3-0
Third place: Valenzuela decisioned Haynes, 6-4

125 Pounds
1. Carlos Ayala (Bonita Vista)
2. Danny Medrano (Mar Vista)
3. Abraham Sanchez (Eastlake)
4. Brandon Gregory (San Ysidro)
Championship: Ayala decisioned Medrano, 7-3
Third place: Sanchez decisioned Gregory, 6-4

130 Pounds
1. Mike Reyes (Hilltop)
2. Vic Anton (Otay Ranch)
3. Moumen Deiranieh (Bonita Vista)
4. Keondre Moore (San Ysidro)
Championship: Reyes decisioend Anton, 6-3
Third place: Deiranieh decisioned Moore, 11-7

135 Pounds
1. Cesar Chavez (Sweetwater)
2. Matt Reyes (Hilltop)
3. Florencio Medina (Eastlake)
4. Albert Lopez (Otay Ranch)
Championship: Chavez decisioned Reyes, 6-3
Third place: Medina decisioned Lopez, 6-3

140 Pounds
1. David McCluggage (Eastlake)
2. Jovonnie Gonzales (Castle Park)
3. Aaron McCrorey (Bonita Vista)
4. Armando Viramontes (Montgomery)
Championship: McCluggage pinned Gonzales, 1:10
Third place: McCrorey decisioned Viramontes, 3-1

145 Pounds
1. Gustavo Ortiz (Chula Vista)
2. Roman Flores (Hilltop)
3. Stephen Lampa (Eastlake)
4. Mario Alvarez (Montgomery)
Championship: Ortiz decisioned Flores, 8-4
Third place: Lampa decisioned Alvarez, 3-0

152 Pounds
1. Hector Arambula (Bonita Vista)
2. Victor Viesca (Olympian)
3. David Ramriez (Hilltop)
4. Carter Barnett (Mar Vista)
Championship: Arambula decisioned Viesca, 5-2
Third place: Ramirez decisioned Barnett, 9-6

160 Pounds
1. Nick Barnes (Bonita Vista)
2. Joseph Rilatt (Mar Vista)
3. David Cinco (Hilltop)
4. Tim Mitchell (Otay Ranch)
Championship: Barnes pinned Rilatt, 2:16
Third place: Cinco decisioned Mitchell, 3-2

171 Pounds
1. Frank Bell (Bonita Vista)
2. Ismael Covarrubias (Mar Vista)
3. Eddie Bajet (Eastlake)
4. Chris Fryxell (Eastlake)
Championship: Bell pinned Covarrubias, 4:43
Third place: Bajet major decisioned Fryxell, 12-2

189 Pounds
1. Cody Lopez (Bonita Vista)
2. Chance San Miguel (Hilltop)
3. John Grylls (Olympian)
4. Fernando Lopez (San Ysidro)
Championship: Lopez pinned San Miguel, 0:54
Third place: Grylls pinned Lopez, 3:10

215 Pounds
1. Seville Hayes (Mar Vista)
2. Taylor Dutcher (Southwest)
3. Alvaro Castillo (Sweetwater)
4. Joel Podras (Hilltop)
Championship: Hayes pinned Dutcher, 6:59
Third place: Castillo pinned Podras, 1:40

285 Pounds
1. Jonathan Henkle (Otay Ranch)
2. Matt Gaughan (Eastlake)
3. Buzz Breding (Mar Vista)
4. Jesse Perez (Olympian)
Championship: Henkle decisioned Gaughan, 6-2
Third place: Breding pinned Perez, 4:45

Metro Conference
Dual Meet Standings
Mesa League
Bonita Vista 5-0
Hilltop 4-1
Eastlake 3-2
Chula Vista N/A
Otay Ranch N/A
Mater Dei 0-5

South Bay League
Mar Vista 6-0
San Ysidro 5-1
Sweetwater 4-2
Olympian 3-3
Southwest N/A
Montgomery N/A
Castle Park 1-5