Wildcats make it four in-a-row
SAN DIEGO — Rancho Bernardo High School hosted this year’s CIFSan Diego Section Duel Championships on Friday and Saturday, here, with a total of three local teams earning selection to compete in the event.
Selected to compete were the teams from Brawley Union, Holtville and Imperial highs.
The Wildcats competed in the Div. III championships, while the Vikings and Tigers both competed in Div. IV as wrestling is still categorized by enrollment. With the return of the dual championships marked the raising of another CIF championship banner for Brawley.
The Wildcats earned the No. 1 seed in the Div. III duels, which also included Mar Vista, University City and Monte Vista.
Brawley opened the duels with a 73-6 win over No. 4 Monte Vista, followed by a 67-12 win over No. 2 University City in the final.
This is the fourth dual title in as many years for the Wildcats and they captured last year’s title with a 69-9 win over Ramona.
Up next for Brawley and the other local high school teams are the CIF-SDS divisional, which will take place on Friday and Saturday.
A seeding meeting for the Divisional and Masters tournaments is scheduled for Wednesday at various high schools in the San Diego area.
This year, Brawley is chasing its 19th consecutive CIF divisional title.
The divisional meets will also serve as a qualifying event for the CIF-SDS Masters tourney scheduled for Feb. 23 and 24.
Advancement to CIF-SDS Masters Tournament is determined by division and weight class.
In Div. IV the top four wrestlers in each class advance to Masters, while the top six in each class will advance out of Div. III.
Div. I and II will see seven of its tops athletes in the 14 weight classes move on to next week.