WRESTLERS EAGER TO RETURN
Seven medalists from 2022 state meet are fine-tuning their craft
No high school sport challenges an athlete more individually than wrestling.
Six minutes on the mat, mano a mano. No blockers, no screens, no one to bail you out or give you an assist. No help on defense.
At this point in the season, wrestlers and coaches are taking stock of what and where they are ... and how to reach the next level.
San Diego boasts seven returning state place-winners from last season.
Six are from Poway, which has been the section’s top wrestling program for a generation.
With little fanfare, Poway finds itself ranked No. 2 in the state and No. 12 in the nation. Over the weekend, the Titans proved that they’re closing the gap on the state’s top power Clovis Buchanan, winners of six of the last seven state titles.
Buchanan beat Poway 55-9 last year in a dual meet. Saturday, the margin was 31-23. And there were numerous matches that could have gone to Poway.
“Last year, Buchanan exposed us,” said Poway coach John Meyers. “We went back to the drawing board. At state, we closed the gap and beat some wrestlers we lost to in the dual.”
The Titans don’t hold back. Their philosophy is measure up now and turn it on at the end.
“We don’t believe in peaking,” said Meyers. “We believe in always staying ready. Some of our biggest competitions are right out of the box like the National Hall of Fame Duals in Stillwater and Reno in December.”
The Titans went unbeaten in pool competition at the national dual competition at Oklahoma State. They finished fourth after falling to Stillwater and New Jersey Morristown Delbarton.
The prestigious Reno Tournament of Champions has been Poway’s season highlight so far.
Led by Reno champions Angelo Posada (157) and Lucas Condon (175), along with eight other top-eight medalists, the Titans scored 277 points and won the event.
“We really rose to the occasion,” Meyers said.
Posada, who finished fourth at 160 pounds last season, and Condon (third at 170 pounds) are two of the six returning Poway state medalists. Others are Laird Root (third at 152), Edwin Sierra (fourth at 106), Elias Navida (fifth at 113) and Paul Kelly (seventh at 126).
The only non-Poway returning state medalist is Collin Guffey of Granite Hills. The junior finished fifth at 132 pounds last season.
At Reno this year, he beat Poway’s Root 4-0 in the finals.
“Reno was a big win for me,” said Guffey. “That and the final at ‘Doc B,’ which I actually think was a harder tournament than Reno.”
Guffey lost to Palm Desert’s top-ranked Beau Mantanona in the final at the Doc Buchanan event in Clovis.
“I’m really proud of our win at Holtville,” Guffey said of the first event the Eagles had their full lineup. “It’s the first time we’ve ever won there. I think we beat the next team by about 100 points.”
Granite Hills’ success is the result
of team-wide improvement and one big addition. Abram Cline, the state’s No. 2-ranked 106pounder, transferred in from Olympian.
On the mat, Guffey says he’s focused on being aggressive.
“My coaches have been talking to me a lot about scoring more points,” he said. “I think sometimes I worry more about controlling the match.”
Root got revenge against Guffey with an overtime win at the Battle for the Belt in Temecula. Root went on to win the event.
“I had chances to score and I didn’t,” Guffey said.
A rubber match isn’t a given. Root went down to 147 pounds in Poway’s dual meet against Buchanan
and may stay there.
“At 147, I feel a lot bigger, stronger,” said Root. “It’s not much for me cutting the weight. We’ll see.”
A defending section champion one victory shy of a state medal last year was Carlsbad’s Mason Walsh.
He may compete at a different weight this season.
After competing at 195 early on, including some battles with Brawley’s state-ranked Robert Platt Jr., Walsh shed a bit of his allsection running back weight. He has now won four straight tournaments, including one at Holtville over the weekend.