Helix Varsity Tournament Review:
Championships on order as wrestling post-season heats up

By Phillip Brents
Posted Feb. 7, 2006

Regular season tournament competition wrapped up in the 2005-06 high school wrestling campaign on Feb. 4 at Helix High School when championship trophies and medals were handed out to place-winners in the annual Robert Jenkins Memorial Tournament. Tournament host Helix finished 11th in the team standings while a quartet of Highlanders earned medals.

Up next is the Grossmont Conference championship tournament Feb. 11 at El Capitan High School. Following that, the road to qualify for the state tournament begins with four San Diego Section divisional championship tournaments on Feb. 18, capped by the section’s Masters state qualifying tournament Feb. 24-25 at Otay Ranch High School.

Stephen Alvarez finished second in his 125-pound weight class for Helix, dropping a 9-7 decision to Poway’s Mark Flores in the championship match. Alvarez, who won last year’s 103-pound San Diego Section Division II championship, will move up in his new weight class this season in search of success. He enters post-season competition as the top-ranked wrestler at 125 pounds in the Grossmont Conference.

The Highlanders also finished the Robert Jenkins tournament with a trio of consolation championship finalists, highlighted by A.J. Augustin’s win at 112 pounds. Helix took sixth-place finishes at both 140 and 275 pounds.

Granite Hills finished with two wrestlers earn top four place-finishes in the tournament. Jesse Alexander finished second at 215 pounds while Justin Phillips was fourth at 189 pounds.

El Capitan had four place-finishers, led by third-place medalists Nathan Neuhardt at 119 pounds and Josh Garcia at 215 pounds. Chris Bernard won the 103-pound consolation championship while the Vaqueros took a runner-up finish in the 135-pound consolation championship.

Grossmont’s Gianni Battaglia finished third at 103 pounds while Foothillers teammate Yosuf Wahid finished as the consolation champion at 152 pounds.

Santana’s Jeff Benz captured the 145-pound consolation title while a pair of Sultans finished runner-up in consolation championship matches. Football standout Jacob Anagnostopolis finished as the consolation championship runner-up at 189 pounds.

Poway’s B team captured the tournament title with 269 points, followed by Carlsbad (second,, 205.5 points), La Costa Canyon (third, 175.5 points), Imperial (fourth, 83 points), Torrey Pines (fifth, 73 points), El Camino (sixth, 69.5 points), El Capitan (seventh, 65 points), Kearny (eighth, 61 points), Vista (ninth, 60 points) and Mar Vista (10th, 59 points).

Kearny’s Greg Huth earned the Outstanding Light Weight award after pinning Eastlake’s Eric Abordo in the 130-pound championship bout while Carlsbad’s Jordan Taghvai earned the Outstanding Heavy Weight award after winning his 189-pound division.

Imperial’s Pete Martinez was honored with the tournament’s coach’s award.

Granite Hills will compete alongside Poway, Carlsbad, La Costa Canyon, Torrey Pines, El Camino and Vista in this year’s San Diego Section Division I finals. Carlsbad, which has set a goal to finish among the top two teams at this year’s divisional and Masters tournaments, finished the Helix tournament by medaling 10 of 13 wrestlers. Included were four finalists: Matt Duffy (first, 112 pounds), Taghvai (first, 189 pounds), Kurt Klimek (first, 275 pounds) and Devon Anderson (second, 140 pounds). Klimek is currently ranked second in the state in his weight class.

Poway finished the Helix tournament with 10 finalists and six champions. La Costa Canyon had 10 medal-winners, led by finalists T.J. Webb (first, 135 pounds), John Strom (first, 145 pounds) and Elliott Dennis (second, 119 pounds).

Helix will compete in the Division II championships while El Capitan will compete in the Division III championships.

The Grossmont South League dual meet title will be decided Feb. 9 when Valhalla visits Monte Vista, with varsity action scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. West Hills eared this year’s Grossmont North League dual meet title with its 43-36 victory against defending champion El Capitan on Feb. 2.

Grossmont Conference rankings
Hunter Beamon enters this year’s Grossmont Conference championship tournament as the top-ranked wrestler at 103 pounds, followed by El Cajon Valley’s Cory Jackson, Valhalla’s Ryan Schmehr and El Capitan’s Chris Bernard.

Valhalla’s Landon Holmes is given the nod over Grossmont;s Gianni Battaglia in the latest conference rankings at 112 pounds, followed by Monte Vista’s Robert Grey, Steele Canyon’s Caleb Cardenas, Helix’s A.J. Augustin and West Hills’ Mike Maxin.

Valhalla’s Jarrod Maguire, who placed sixth (by injury default) at the recent Holtville Invitational (rated as one of the toughest in years), heads the conference’s ranked wrestlers at 119 pounds, followed by El Capitan’s Nathan Neuhardt and Monte Vista’s Persio Morel.

Helix’s Stephen Alvarez is ranked first at 125 pounds, followed by Valhalla’s Josue Martinez (second at Holtville), Monte Vista’s Rudy Simmons and El Capitan’s Rudy Sangermano.

Granite Hills’ Ross Logan earned distinction as the top-ranked wrestler at 130 pounds, followed by West Hills’ Josh Carbjal, Monte Vista’s Aaron Moton, Valhalla’s Renzo Salazar and Steele Canyon’s Tyler Ramer.

Monte Vista’s Aaron Eberhart earned the top-ranked position among conference wrestlers at 135 pounds, followed by Valhalla’s Adrian Canizalez.

Valhalla’s Keith Juengst, a returning state medalist, heads the conference’s rankings at 140 pounds, followed by Steele Canyon’s Bryce Bidegain, Granite Hills’ David Graciano and Monte Vista’s Lonnie Alexander.

Monte Vista’s Tim Day leads the conference rankings at 145 pounds, followed by Valhalla’s Mark Kielbasa (fifth at Holtville).

Another Monarch grappler, Eric Winchell, enters post-season competition ranked first at 152 pounds while Monte Vista teammate Chris Eade is ranked first at 160 pounds, followed by Valhalla’s Eric Kincaid-Sharp, Mt. Miguel’s Ivan Herrera and Granite Hills’ Derek Cockrum.

Valhalla’s Bruno Salazar (second at Holtville) received the top ranking in his 171-pound division, followed by El Capitan’s T.J. Herrera and Monte Vista’s John Orr.

Mt. Miguel’s Greg Villalobos is ranked first at 189 pounds, followed by Valhalla’s Chris Thomas and Steele Canyon’s Ryan Pearl.

Monte Vista’s Tim Pugsley is ranked first at 215 pounds ahead of Granite Hills’ Jesse Alexander, though both wrestlers have traded wins this season.

El Capitan’s Josh Garcia and Monte Vista’s Ryan Meehan were ranked first and second at 275 pounds.

Some late weight adjustments may alter the final standings in some weights classes and some wrestlers may choose to go a higher weight at the conference finals before being locked into their post-season weight at the divisional championships the following week.