SGV/Whittier Prep Sports Zone: Wrestling Notebook, Dec. 20th, 2022
Area wrestlers turn in top performances on the final weekend before the Christmas Holiday.
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With the Christmas Holiday landing on a Saturday this year, last week was the last big weekend for action in the boys and girls wrestling area programs with several of them traveling out of town to get some action in.
There were two local area tournaments in the area that took, the Bishop Amat Rumble and the Holiday Brawl at Glendora High School.
At the Bishop Amat Rumble, Bishop Amat once again took down the team title with 239.5 points. San Fernando High checked in second (182.5) and Sierra Vista took third (148). The Lancers had three wrestlers win individual titles.
Luca Munoz captured the 145-pound title with a quick first-period pin over Alec Zapata of Granada Hills HS. In the 152-pound final, Nathan Jaime also won his championship in a first-period pin over Covina’s Eric Fimbres. Francisco Molina brought home the 285-pound title with a first-period pin over Moises Gomez-Puentes of San Fernando High. Teammate Michael Chung advanced to the 220-pound final but was pinned in the first period by Westlake’s Dan Abedi.
One of the more interesting Lancer performances of the day came from Richie Munoz. A two-way player on the football team, which includes being the starting quarterback, Munoz advanced to the final in the 182-pound division, suffering a loss via a late first-period pin to Moorpark’s Brett Williamson. In the semifinals, Munoz posted an impressive 11-3 win over Los Altos’ Isaiah Parada.
Eric Fimbres (left) finished second at 152 pounds and Jesse Salazar (right) won the 126-pound title at the Amat Rumble Tournament. (Covina Wrestling)
Covina’s Jesse Salazar won the 126-pound title with a first-period pin over San Gorgonio’s Richard Garcia. Mark Keppel’s Joseph Cimarusti pinned Big Bear’s Isaiah Ramirez 1:17 into the first period of their 138-pound final. It was the Aztecs’ only individual champion.
Sierra Vista’s Armando Serrano made short work of California School for the Deaf’s Xavier Gamboa with a quick first-period pin in the 195-pound final. Teammate Dominick Renteria advanced to the 170-pound final but was pinned in the first period by San Fernando’s Daniel Benavidez. Simon Nguyen suffered a first-period loss by pin to Santa Paula’s Jacob Marin in the 113-pound final.
Several teams traveled out of the town last week. At the Dollarmur Reno Tournament of Champions, Walnut had one champion in the boys division. Ronnie Ramirez narrowly defeated Dale Oblia of Mullen HS of Colorado, 3-2, to win the 113-pound championship. It capped off a big day as he won two matches by pin and another by Major Decision. Ramirez was a state finalist last year as a freshman.
In the girls division, two wrestlers emerged as individual champions. Returning state champion Anaya Falcon won three matches by pin and dominated Crater’s Sienna Caruso was a 16-0 win in the 106-pound final. Jordan Carrillo took the bronze medal at 165 pounds, and Jasmine Macias took fourth place at 126 points. Walnut took third place in the team points race.
La Canada’s Kera Finnegan on top of the medal stand at the Reno Tournament of Champions. (La Canada HS wrestling photo)
La Canada’s Kera Finnegan announced her arrival on the local scene for the season with a second-period pin over Cheyenne Kellison of Allen HS in the 132-pound final. Finnegan won two other patches by pins and easily dispatched Chico’s Aliyhanna Hernandez in the semifinals.
Northview girls wrestling team photo after winning the Tournament of Champions in Northern California. (Northview Wrestling photo).
At the Women’s West Coast Tournament of Champions, Northview took first place in the team points race. The Vikings had two wrestlers hit the top of the medal stands with top performances.
In the 121-pound final, Leilani Lazaro, a returning state placer, defeated Basha’s Andee Anderson 9-1. It was the only match that Lazaro was involved in that lasted six minutes. She won her four other matches by pin. Johanna Forman, a returning state champion from Montclair HS, pinned Merrill West’s Kalila Shrive in the second period of their 160-pound final.
Forman’s teammate Natalie Lopez took sixth place in the same weight class. Lexi Garcia took fourth place at 106 pounds. She lost in the semifinals to Crown Point’s Rianne Murphy 16-0. Andrea Mateo captured third place at 143 pounds, suffering a tough 3-0 loss to Elk Grove’s Dafne Guadarrama in the semifinals. Other wrestlers that earned a medal included Samantha Rivera (6th at 121), and Daisy Garcia (6th at 189 pounds).
Ayala’s B.K Martinez took the bronze medal at 116 pounds with a first-period pin over Granite Bays Malia Niimi in their third-place match. In college action, Barbara Greenberg, a graduate of Glendora HS who is wrestling at Menlo College, won the 109-pound title with a 7-1 win over Leila Sidhu of Umpqua Community College.
Northview team photo after finishing in 7th place at the Zinkin Classic at Buchanan HS. (Northview Wrestling)
At the Zinkin Classic, one of the top tournaments in the state, Northview (85.5) turned in an outstanding performance with a seventh-place finish. The highest-placed Viking was Jacob Salcedo, who took home the bronze medal at 152-pounds with a narrow 3-1 win over Bakersfield’s Austin Simmons in their third-place match.
Other Viking wrestlers that hit the medal stand included Nathan Cruz (5th at 170 pounds) and Sonny Acuna (6th at 182 pounds).
San Dimas wrestling poses with their medals after a successful day at the Edison Bash Tournament. (San Dimas wrestling)
At the Edison Beach bash at Edison HS, San Dimas (101.5) was the highest place team in the team standings with a sixth-place performance. Seth Hoodye was one of the team’s best performers as he advanced to the semifinals before losing to Irvine’s Benedek Magyar with a first-period pin. Hoodye finished in fourth place.
The other top performer was Jeremy Ortiz has advanced to the semifinals at 138 pounds and suffered a first-period loss by pin to Chino’s Jordan Mallo. He rebounded nicely and took an exciting 9-8 decision over Savanna’s Evan Granados in their third-place match. Quinn McDonald was the only other Saints to place as he finished in 8th place at 182 pounds.
They were two local wrestlers that made advanced to the finals but came up short.
South Hills medal winning wrestlers pose after a big day at the Edison Bash Tournament. (South Hills HS Wrestling).
South Hills’ Zeke Guerrero advanced to the finals at 106 pounds but couldn’t get past Chino’s Jonathan Madera with a tough 4-0 loss. Guerrero advanced to the final with an exciting 4-2 win over Arroyo’s Lucas Long. Nikhil Guerrero finished in fourth place at 126 pounds.
Speaking of the Knights, they had two wrestlers advance to the finals. Aaron Olvera advanced to the 132-pound final before losing to Chino’s Nathaniel Gonzalez, 11-4. Olvera had three pins on his way to the finals. Teammate Finnegan Long was pinned in the second period of his 138-pound final by Chino’s Mallo. Long his quarterfinal and semifinal matches by pin.
Montebello’s Edmon Altunyan defeated Chino’s Caleb Valenzuela, 5-4, to win 3rd place at 113 pounds.
At the Shoot for the Muon Memorial Girls Wrestling Tournament at Millikan HS, Allie Phillips captured the 235-pound title with a first-period pin over Warren’s Ava Stray. Gabrielino’s Julissa Pena advanced to the finals at 143 pounds before suffering a loss by pin in the first period to Arroyo Grande’s Genesis Donato-Garcia.
At the Norwalk Girls Varsity Tournament, Santa Fe (182) finished in third place in the team standings and Arroyo (86), checked in ninth.
The Chiefs had an individual champion as Jessie Castaneda defeated Esperanza’s Isabel Valenzuela, 5-2, to capture the 101-pound final. Castaneda has two wins by pin during the tournament. Darlene Contreras advanced to the final at 160 pounds but lost by pin in the first period to Golden Valley’s Audrey Chavez. Teammate Jaeleen McLellan also took the sliver at 235 pounds, losing to Hillcrest’s La Lomie Deramus via a first-period pin.
Arroyo’s Chelsey Quintanilla advanced to the semifinals at 116 pounds but suffered an emotional 4-2 overtime loss to Mountain View’s Jocelyn Camarena. Quintanilla would end up taking third place. Teammate Kaelani Torres also advanced to the semifinals at 150-pound but lost by first-period pin to Beaumont’s Alyssa Soza. Torres would finish in fourth place.