Brawley’s Gomez, Imperial’s Ortiz headline All-IVL wrestling teams
Brawley High School’s Savannah Gomez and Imperial’s Paul Ortiz are the Imperial Valley League’s 2020 female and male Wrestlers of the Year.
No wrestler was more impressive in 2020 than Brawley freshman Savannah Gomez. A multiple-time state champion at the youth level, Gomez burst onto the scene this season and lived up to nearly all her hype, dominating opponents up and down the state before ultimately falling just short at the CIF finals in Bakersfield and settling for a runner-up finish at 139 pounds.
Ortiz, meanwhile, gained notice for his many tournament wins (including one at the Holtville Rotary Invitational for the second year in a row) and being the only male wrestler to take first at Masters.
In 2020, the Valley produced 20 individual champions at the San Diego Section Divisional level, six champs at the Masters level and had a total of 17 wrestlers qualify for the state championships — nine girls and eight boys.
All that individual excellence helped further some dynastic ambitions at the team level, with the Brawley boys’ (for the 20th time at SDS Division III) and girls’ teams and the Imperial boys’ team (at Division IV) each repeating as SDS champions.
Well, technically, the Brawley girls won their first ever CIF-SDS Division II title after winning a unified crown in 2019, but they followed that up by winning the first-ever girls’ masters tournament, thus maintaining their section-wide supremacy.
The complete all-league teams are included below.
All-IVL First Team Boys
Naythan Galbiso (Imperial, Jr.)
Christopher Guizar (Imperial, So.)
Anthony Maldonado (Brawley, Sr.)
Joey Navarro (Brawley, So.)
Payton Iten (Holtville, So.)
Richard Garcia (Holtville, Sr.)
Jose Gutierrez (Brawley, Jr.)
Omar Rosas (Central, Sr.)
Paul Ortiz (Imperial, Jr.) — Wrestler of the Year
Alan Carrillo (Brawley, So.)
Benji Alvarez (Southwest, Sr.)
Frank Figueroa (Southwest, Sr.)
Andrew Castillo (Central, Sr.)
Wolfgang Horner (Imperial, So.)
All-IVL First Team Girls
Arianna Gonzalez (Brawley, Jr.)
Karen Salais (Calexico, So.)
Haylee Garcia (Brawley, Sr.)
Jocelyn Avelar (Imperial, Sr.)
Ariah Barragan (Imperial, Jr.)
Yulianna Osuna (Brawley, Sr.)
Yesenia Garza (Brawley, Sr.)
Savannah Gomez (Brawley, Fr.) — Wrestler of the Year
Jadyn Jardon (Brawley, So.)
Dylan Jardon (Brawley, So.)
Yisel Arias (Brawley, Jr.)
Allie Garcia (Brawley, Jr.)
Miricle Barra (Brawley, Sr.)
Aislinn Hernandez (Brawley, Sr.)
All-IVL Second Team Boys
Donovan Johnston (Holtville, So.) Antonio Escandon (Calexico, Jr.) Sebastian Olivos (Imperial, Sr.) Griffin Callaghan (Palo Verde, So.) Julien Carmago (Brawley, Sr.) Neven Hart (Imperial, Jr.) Aram Zavala (Central, Sr.) Chris Benedict (Imperial, Sr.) Preston Brewer (Brawley, Sr.) Stephen Solis (Brawley, So.) Mason Toten (Holtville, So.) Kevin Aganza (Central, Sr.) Marcos Andrade (Imperial, Sr.) Carlos Gomez (Palo Verde, Fr.) Javier Martinez (Brawley, Sr.)
All-IVL Second Team Girls
Sandra Arguelles (Central, So.) Jaylee Cazares (Brawley, Fr.) Savina Walker (Southwest, Jr.) Victoria Perdoma (Brawley, So.) Jalissa Alvarez (Brawley, Sr.) Mia Sanchez-Rubio (Central, Fr.) Hayden DeLong (Southwest, Fr.) Natalia Montiel (Imperial, So.) Yzzy Lopez (Central, So.) Katherine Cabrera (Central, So.) Alexa Sustaita (Calexico, Sr.)