SGV/Whittier Prep Sports Zone: WRESTLING Roundup
San Dimas boys and Northview girls turn in top tournament performances.
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San Dimas team photo after winning the Damien Classic Tournament last week (San Dimas Wrestling photo).
The wrestling season is now in overdrive and last week was the first week that the area had a major tournament.
The annual Damien Classic brought together man of the top programs in the area. In the team race, San Dimas emerged as the tournament champions was a top score of 219 points with Quartz Hill (200.5) finishing second and Cerritos (197.5) taking third.
Among the area teams that finished in the top 10 included Bonita (191.5), Damien (191), and Bishop Amat (155).
Bonita’s Elias Echeveste got the area started fast in the 113-pound final with a 13-4 win over David Chum of Cerritos. San Dimas got its first tournament individual title a short time later when Daniel Baeza overwhelmed Chaparral’s Julian Huerta 18-1 in a 126-pound final.
Jeremy Ortiz gave the Saints their second individual title with a first-period pin over Troy Leon of Apple Valley in a 144-pound final. Damien’s first individual title came a short time after when Christopher Leon defeated Centrel Farmer of Chaparral, 10-5 in a 150-pound final. San Dimas got their third individual title when Michael Baeza won the 190-pound final.
Among the notables that earned a medal included Bishop Amat’s Richie Munoz, who advanced to the semifinals before finishing 5th at 190 pounds. It was his first tournament since finishing the football season.
Over at the La Costa Canyon tournament in San Dimas, Walnut was the only area team to take the drive down I-5 South and finished in 6th place with a 165.5 team score. Buchanan was the team champion with Slam Academy (Nev.) finishing second and Granite Hills was third.
The only Walnut wrestler to win an individual title was returning state champion Ronnie Ramirez as he had no trouble in defeating Kavi Garvey of Dana Hills, 20-3, in the 120-pound final. Ramirez’s record for the season is 9-0.
Aaron Contreras was the other wrestler who made the final but was pinned in the third period of his 132-pound final by Slam Academy’s Manual Saldate. Other placers included Camilo Ramirez (3rd at 113), Christian Garcia (4th at 126), Brentley Macamay (8th at 144), and Frank Ementerio (8th at 215).
At The Mann Classic that was hosted at Marina High School, South Hills had several wrestlers hit the medal stand. Christian Montoya was one of two wrestlers who had top finishes as he finished in fourth place at 113 pounds. The other wrestler with fourth place was Max Topete who finished in 4th place at 175 pounds. The only other wrestler to earn a medal included Kayden Vasquez (7th at 106).
Ayala turned in a top performance at the Camarillo 10-Way tournament as they went 7-3 as a team in the two-day tournament. Two wrestlers went undefeated for the weekend: Jayren Chan of Ayala (106 pounds, 10-0) and Elias Salloum (6-0 at 144 pounds).
In girls wrestling, the big tournament was the Norco Rodeo Girls Wrestling Challenge with Northview (194) taking second place in the team standings. The Vikings had two wrestlers win gold medals at the event.
Ysabella Hinojosa won her first tournament of the year with a second-period pin over Mackenzie Muniz in the 113-pound final. Mia Hooper also showed that she is rounding into top form as she won the 130-pound final with a second-period pin over Ashlie Pineda of Orange Vista High School.
Other Northview placers included Mia Sanchez (2nd at 115), Samantha Rivera (4th at 120), Sam Felix (2nd at 125), Sumaya Lazaro (2nd at 135), Sophia Gomez (2nd at 140), and Andrea Mateo (2nd at 155). West Covina had several wrestlers earn medals and they included Juelz Taylor (5th at 120), and Andrea Aguilar (4th at 145).
Over at the Lady Charger Bash at Edison High School in Huntington Beach, Santa Fe (118) took fourth place with Schurr (98) taking fifth place. Both teams had an individual championship with Schurr’s Isabella Sosa winning the 189-pound title with a first-period pin over Joselyn Gutierrez-Uribe of La Quinta and Santa Fe’s Jaeleen McLellan capturing the 235-pound title with a pin over Delilah Perez of Cerritos.