10 Warrior grapplers qualify for masters

The CIF San Diego Section has four divisional wrestling tournaments with a specified number of wrestlers in each division qualifying for the all-division Masters Tournament the following weekend. The CIF wrestling divisions are based on enrollment rather than competitive balance, and Fallbrook High School is in Division II. This year Fallbrook placed third among Division II teams while 10 individuals placed high enough to advance to the Masters Tournament.

“The divisional tournament went very well for us. I’m very happy with the way our team performed,” Fallbrook coach Cristian Vera said.

The Warriors filled 12 of the 14 weight classes at the divisional tournament Feb. 15 at Steele Canyon High School. The top seven in each weight class qualified for the Masters Tournament, Feb. 21-22, at Southwest High School in El Centro and the eighth-place wrestler became the alternate for the masters meet.

“Essentially we qualified 10 guys for Masters including the alternate,” Vera said.

Seven Fallbrook matmen placed among the top seven while three others took eighth place after losing the seventh-place match. The alternate competes in the masters if one of the top seven wrestlers cannot compete due to injury or illness or scales overweight at the Master Tournament’s weigh-in. One of Fallbrook’s eighth-place wrestlers competed in the Masters Tournament while injuries kept the other two from participating in the all-division tournament.

Carlos Hernandez placed second in the 197-pound division. The senior was undefeated until a 7-2 decision loss in the final against Laith Gilmore of Poway High School.

“He definitely had himself a great tournament,” Vera said.

The path to the final for Hernandez included a win by fall in the semifinal match against Vista High School’s Lionel Turner. During pre-league tournament competition Hernandez lost to Turner.

“He was able to be more effective against him,” Vera said.

Hernandez became the first Fallbrook wrestler to reach a divisional championship match since Nick Perillo in 2015, when Fallbrook was in Division I. Perillo won his match in overtime to become the 182-pound CIF Division I champion.

Gilmore had won his previous divisional tournament matches by fall, so Hernandez was Gilmore’s only opponent not to be pinned.

“He did phenomenal,” Vera said. “He definitely excelled.”

Ethan Aguila competed in the 154-pound division, and the sophomore took third place.

“He had a great tournament,” Vera said. “He did exceptionally well. He had some great matches.”

Three of Aguila’s wins in the tournament were by pin and the other was by technical fall. His loss was by minor decision.

In the first round, Aguila pinned Grossmont’s Joseph Rosas. Rosas advanced through the consolation bracket, but the CIF limits a wrestler to five matches in one day. Aguila had also reached his five-match limit, so the consolation final was not contested. In the event both wrestlers in the match for a position have reached their limit, the first tiebreaking criteria is head-to-head competition earlier in the tournament. Because Aguila had previously defeated Rosas, Aguila was given third and Rosas received fourth place.

Johnny Bermudez was pinned in the consolation final, giving the junior fourth place in the 222-pound bracket.

“He also had a pretty great tournament,” Vera said.

Charles Geffroy of Poway, who was the Titans’ only wrestler who did not win his weight class, pinned Bermudez 24 seconds into the second period of the third-place match.

“He just fell a little bit short,” Vera said. “He was able to do some incredible things.”

Javier Montoya lost his third-place match by major decision, providing the senior with fourth place in the heavyweight class.

“He had himself a pretty good tournament,” Vera said.

Montoya was undefeated until facing Poway’s Andrew Johnson in the semifinal. Logan Ransdell of Granite Hills High School obtained a 9-0 major decision win against Montoya in the third-place match.

Kevin Sanchez was the fifth-place wrestler in the 134-pound class.

“Kevin had a tough tournament,” Vera said.

The senior was in the same weight bracket as three wrestlers ranked in the state.

“That entire division was stacked,” Vera said. “He held his own. He came back and had some great matches.”

Sanchez reached his five-match limit before the fifth-place match, but so had Mount Carmel High School’s Emery Holland. The two had not faced each other in the tournament, so the tiebreaking criteria which applied was fewer points against during the earlier rounds. Sanchez had allowed fewer points and was given fifth place while Holland obtained sixth place.

Ethan Ellefsen was seeded sixth in the 115-pound class, and the sophomore placed sixth.

“He beat some pretty decent kids,” Vera said.

Ellefsen lost a quarterfinal match to Christian Aguilera of Hilltop High School, and those grapplers would have faced each other in the fifth-place match had the five-match limit not prevented both matmen from that competition. The earlier win gave Aguilera fifth place and Ellefsen sixth.

In the 122-pound division sophomore Chris Beltran took seventh place.

“Chris is just awesome. He wrestled really hard,” Vera said.

Beltran pinned Jacob Quiroz of Vista in the seventh-place match to capture the automatic Masters’ berth. The fall occurred 48 seconds into the third period.

“I definitely admire the kid’s will to want to push himself,” Vera said.

The CIF has a minimum participation requirement, but junior varsity matches count toward that threshold. Despite having only two previous varsity matches sophomore Brian Greenwood placed eighth in the 162-pound bracket.

Greenwood faced Chris Nava of Escondido High School in the seventh-place match. A 12-1 major decision gave Nava the automatic berth in the Masters.

Uriel Juarez is a junior. He wrestled at 140 pounds in the divisional tournament and lost the seventh-place match to Adam Ruiz of Valhalla High School by a 4-2 decision.

Juarez would have qualified for the masters due to the withdrawal of other 140-pound Division I wrestlers, but he aggravated a back injury between the divisional tournament and masters and did not compete in the all-division tournament.

“There are things that are more important than the tournament,” Vera said.

Matthew Kendall was Fallbrook’s 147-pound wrestler. The junior lost the seventh-place match by medical forfeit after a previous competition triggered concussion protocol, and he was held out of the Masters.

“He had some pretty good matches,” Vera said.

The Warriors did not place in the 108-pound or 128-pound classes. Fallbrook did not have representatives in the 172-pound or 184-pound divisions.

“I’m happy with all the places,” Vera said.

Team points are based on wins including the level of victory – decision, major decision, technical fall and fall or medical forfeit – and the points are increased for subsequent rounds. Poway won the Division II championship with 395 1/2 points, Vista placed second and had 176 1/2 points, Fallbrook accumulated 128 points, Granite Hills had the fourth-place total of 123 1/2 points and Mount Carmel took fifth place with 122 points.

“I’m ecstatic,” Vera said. “For us to go and finish third at CIF I think speaks volumes for where the program is right now.”

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].