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.

Metro Conference Report:
Bonita Vista Barons excel on the mat
Could CIF title be in the making?
Bonita Vista places fourth at Monte Vista Invitational

Posted Jan. 13, 2009
When the San Diego Section wrestling rankings hit Internet message boards on Jan. 1, no South County teams were included among the top 10 tournament teams. Given the general lack of respect the Metro Conference commands in county mat circles, it was perhaps no surprise.

But all of that could change in the coming weeks. More to the point, the Bonita Vista Barons could change that.

The Barons have size this season — not only in terms of the physical dimensions of their wrestlers but in the scope of talent throughout the lineup.

After engineering a strong fourth-place finish at last Saturday’s Monte Vista Invitational — a 27-team tournament that featured the top two ranked teams in the section, Poway and Brawley, and Division III front-runner Monte Vista — Bonita Vista coach Gabe Ruz has to start wondering just how good this year’s Baron squad is.

Could a Division II team championship be in the making?

"I think we have as good a shot as anyone in D-2," said Ruz, whose team faced off Mesa League dual meet competition Jan. 8 with a 72-0 victory against Mater Dei.

The Barons walked out of the Monarchs’ gym with seven medalists and three finalists, finishing with 151.5 points — 60.5 points ahead of seventh place Hilltop, the nearest South County team, and more than doubling the score on 12th place Eastlake.

Poway, ranked fourth in the state, won the team title with 337.5 points, followed by Brawley with 190 points and Monte Vista with 185 points. The Gilbert (Ariz.) Tigers finished fifth with 123.5 points. Escondido (111 points), Hilltop (91 points), Torrey Pines (82.5 points), Morse (79.5 points) and San Pasqual (79 points) rounded out the top 10 teams.

It appears Bonita Vista will duel Westview and Mt. Carmel for supremacy in the Division II championship tournament in February.

Hilltop and Eastlake also will compete in the Division II tournament along with Sweetwater and San Ysidro. Chula Vista and Otay Ranch will compete in Division I while Montgomery, Mar Vista, Castle Park and Southwest will participate in the Division III tournament. Olympian and Mater Dei will participate in the Division IV tournament.

Senior Hector Arambula (152) and juniors Frank Bell (171) and Cody Lopez (189) all finished second in their respective weight classes after dropping matches to Poway wrestlers.

Arambula, who entered the tournament with an 18-2 record and improved to 21-3, lost by 4:50 pin to Poway senior Jake Poliakoff. Arambula earned the No. 1 seed in the weight class, advancing to the championship match with a 1:01 fall against Castle Park’s Jesse Ramos, 10-3 quarterfinal victory over Brawley’s Luis Perez and a 5-4 semifinal win over Monte Vista’s Alex Aviala.

Poliakoff was seeded third and upset second-seeded Spence Sarazin by a 7-0 decision in the semifinals. Poliakoff finished his four matches with two pins, a 12-2 major decision and the 7-0 shutout victory.

Arambula had previously placed first at the La Quinta and Olympian/Metro Conference duals and was coming off a seventh-place finish at the region’s top regular season tournament, the El Cajon Invitational.

Bell, who placed eighth in his weight at last month’s ECI, gave his Poway opponent, senior Alex Brown, all he could handle in losing a 12-7 minor decision. Bell improved to 30-3 on the season with a 3-1 tourney record that included a pin and a pair of 10-point major decisions.

Bell was seeded third and advanced to the semifinals with a pair of convincing victories (a 13-3 major decision over San Pasqual’s Martin Polanco and a 5:19 fall against Mt. Miguel’s Lebrian Mays) to match up against Gilbert’s Kaylon Hamlett, the second-seeded wrestler in the weight class.

Bell defeated Hamlett by a 14-4 major decision to make his personal statement.

Lopez, who missed the last half of the football season and the opening two weeks of the wrestling season because of an injury, had a chance to display his sheer strength on the mat at last weekend’s Monte Vista tournament. Lopez (10-2) advanced to the finals against Poway senior Ian Daube with pins of 3:40 (Santana’s Travis Flandro), 2:02 (Monte Vista’s Alex Rossell) and 1:14 (Helix’s E.J. Perkins).

Daube, who is ranked third in the state, pinned Lopez in 1:52 but the Baron matster had already left his mark in the weight class. Rossell and Perkins both won their weight classes at the season-opening Battle by the Beach tournament at Mar Vista High School.

Daube earned honors as the tournament’s outstanding upper weight wrestler with two pins and two technical falls.

Poway senior Henry Yorba, ranked fourth in the state, was named the tournament’s outstanding lower weight wrestler after finishing the day with four pins in his 135-pound division. Yorba scored three sub-minute falls — 29, 32 and 57 seconds — and won by a 1:16 pin in his championship match against Escondido’s Adon Perez.

Bonita Vista’s other medal-winners included Nick Barnes (fourth, 160 pounds), Steve Johnston (fifth, 103), Ricky Haynes (fifth, 119) and Carlos Ayala (fifth, 125).

Barnes (29-5) advanced to the semifinals with pins against University of Irvine’s Anthony Gonzalez (3:23) and Torrey Pines’ Keegan McAllister (4:24) before losing an 11-3 major decision to Poway junior Ian Roy, ranked sixth in the state. Barnes defeated Mt. Miguel’s Vincent Stewart by a 10-2 major decision in the consolation semifinals but lost by a 4:30 fall in a rematch against McAllister in the third-place bout.

In winning their fifth-place matches, Johnston (22-5) pinned Granite Hills’ Eddie Valencia in 4:25 while Haynes (18-9) pinned Grossmont’s Jacob McDaniel in 3:15 and Ayala (23-7) decisioned Scripps Ranch’s Cody Gratas 4-1.

Both Haynes and Ayala qualified for the semifinals but lost two successive matches to drop into battles for fifth-place in the tournament. Ayala dropped a 14-3 major decision to Poway freshman Jesse Taylor, a state triple crown winner as an eighth-grader last year, but the final score was deceiving.

McDaniel placed second in his weight class at the season-opening Carlsbad Invitational.

The Barons could have had eight medalists but Andrew Humiston (16-8) lost his fifth-place bout to El Cajon Valley’s Masud Hasan at 135 pounds.

The Barons could have had eight medalists but Andrew Humiston (16-8) lost his fifth-place bout to El Cajon Valley’s Masud Hasan at 135 pounds.

A total of five South County teams participated in this year's Monte Vista Invitational. Hilltop (eighth) had three medalists and one finalist while Eastlake (12th) had four medalists. Sweetwater (22nd) and Castle Park (26th) each had one medalist.

Hilltop junior Anthony Salinas made it four Metro mat men in the finals by placing second at 112 pounds while Matt Reyes finished fourth at 135 pounds (dropping a tight 2-1 decision to Sweetwater’s Cesar Chavez). Ricardo Aceves was fifth at 125 pounds after stopping Mira Mesa’s Ulysses Savage by a 5-2 decision.

Salinas was seeded second in his weight class and advanced to meet Poway junior Gabe Brown in the championship match on the strength of three consecutive pins. Salinas pinned University City’s Joshua Najera in 1:17 in his first match and dispatched El Capitan’s Todd Clarke by a 1:53 fall in the quarterfinals. Salinas pinned Granite Hills’ Zach McClanahan in 5:53 in the semifinals.

Brown improved to 20-2 by scoring a 9-3 finals win against Salinas (18-3). Salinas placed seventh at the ECI tournament while Brown won the El Dorado tournament and finished fourth at national-draw Reno Tournament of Champions.

Reyes advanced to the semifinals after pulling off a pair of upsets, including an opening-round 16-9 win over second-seeded Hasan of ECV. Reyes upended Morse’s Joseph Carrillo, 12-10, in the quarterfinals before having his run through the championship bracket halted by a 9-3 loss to Escondido’s Perez.

Reyes defeated BV’s Humiston in the consolation semifinals before closing out the tournament with a loss to SuHi’s Chavez in the third-place match.

Barons impress on the mat
Posted Jan. 8, 2009
Bonita Vista High School wrestling coach Gabe Ruz said there is "a lot to write" about this season's team. No kidding.

The Barons defeated longtime South County powers Hilltop and Eastlake at the second annual Olympian/Metro Conference dual tournament Dec. 20 and sport several wrestlers in their lineup with ridiculously lop-sided records at the midpoint of the 2008-09 mat campaign.

Frank Bell (189 pounds) is 27-2. Nick Barnes (171) is 26-3. Carlos Ayala (125) is 20-5. Steve Johnston (103) is 19-3. Hector Arambula (160) is 18-2. Dalton Randolph (130) is 16-5. Ricky Haynes (119) is 15-7. Andrew Humiston (135) is 14-6. Cody Lopez, wrestling at 215 pounds, is 7-1.

The Barons notched the highest place-finish among South County teams at the 2008 El Cajon Invitational, held Dec. 29-30 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Bonita Vista finished 20th out of more than 60 teams — seventh best among San Diego Section teams. Arambula placed seventh at 160 pounds while Bell placed eighth at 189 pounds.

Hilltop finished 30th in the team standings. The Lancers recorded one place-finisher in the national-draw tournament: Anthony Salinas placed seventh in his 112-pound weight class.
Eastlake finished 41st in the team standings while San Ysidro was 59th.

Poway, with nine medalists, three finalists and two champions, captured the team title. Lake Stevens (Washington), also with nine place-finishers, finished second — 25.5 points behind the Titans.

Liberty 140-pounder Greg Kappler, with two pins and two technical falls, captured the Outstanding Lower Weight award while Las Vegas 215-pounder Trey McElhaney, with five falls (four in the first period), was named the tournament's Outstanding Upper Weight wrestler.

Poway's Conrad Snell (135) and Ian Daube (189) were the San Diego Section's only weight class champions while Brawley's Arturo Carmona (103), Valhalla's Renzo Salazar (140) and Poway's Ian Roy (160) each earned runner-up finishers in their respective weights.

Seven San Diego Section teams managed to crack the top 20. Valhalla (17th) and Rancho Buena Vista (19th) also recorded top 20 team finishes along with Poway (first), Brawley (11th), Steele Canyon (12th), Westview (15th) and Bonita Vista (20th).

The Barons are scheduled to compete in Saturday's Monte Vista Invitational. Eastlake is also scheduled to participate.

LCC duals
Eastlake placed first in the Silver Bracket at the Jimmy Hamada Memorial Duals Dec. 13 at La Costa Canyon High School. The Titans finished 4-1 in competition, with a lone loss to Cheokee Trails from Colorado. Eastlake defeated El Cajon Valley, Olympian, Mission Hills and San Pasqual.

Olympian finished second in the Silver Bracket and El Cajon Valley third.

For the Titans, junior Keith Martin (125) was named to the All-Tournament Second Team after going 5-0 with two pins. Anthony Alviz, a junior 119-pounder, went 5-0 with three pins. Yet another junior, David McCluggage (140), was 4-0.

Marauder Invitational
Hilltop, with 183.5 points, finished fourth in the 29-team field, trailing Mt. Carmel (first place, 251 points), Poway B (second place, 220 points) and Washington Union (third place, 208.5 points). Hilltop's Anthony Salinas captured the 112-pound weight class.

Section rankings
Poway is ranked first among tournament teams, followed by Brawley, Mt. Carmel and Rancho Bernardo. Two Metro grapplers received nods among top individuals: Hilltop's Anthony Salinas (fourth at 112 pounds) and Chula Vista's Gustavo Ortiz (fifth at 160 pounds).

State rankings
Poway leads the section with five state-ranked mat men: Gabe Brown (third, 103), Ryan Nasseri (sixth, 112), Henry Yorba (second, 130), Ian Roy (eighth, 152) and Ian Daube (third, 171). The Titans are ranked fourth as a team behind Clovis (Central Section), Selma (Central Section) and Calvary Chapel-Santa Ana (Southern Section). Brawley's Alfonso Osuna was ranked fifth at 112 pounds. Honorable mention recipients include La Costa Canyon's Tim Randall (145) and T.J. Webb (152), Brawley's Arthur Carmona (103), Oscar Lizarraga (125) and Mitchell Maya (130), Carlsbad's Chase Eskam (189) and Escondido's Moises Chairez (215).