BRAWLEY’S PLATT, POWAY’S CONDON NAB GOLD MEDALS

Poway High’s Lucas Condon has wanted this exact match for over a month.

During the Titans’ dual meet against Clovis Buchanan at home, Condon felt he had to defend himself after bumping up to 182 to get a technical fall instead of facing secondranked 170-pounder Sloan Swan.

He got his chance in Saturday night’s final of the State Championships at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield, pinning Swan with one tick of the clock left in the first period.

Brawley’s Robert Platt gave the San Diego Section a second champion, beating Gilroy freshman Coby Merrill 3-1 in sudden victory overtime at 195.

The finals were tough on two other Poway wrestlers.

In a battle of 2024 Wisconsin commitments, Miguel Estrada of Frontier captured his second straight state title by downing Poway’s Laird Root 4-2.

In the 160-pound final, Titan Angelo Posada was pinned by Arizona State-bound Nico Ruiz of St. John Bosco.

Buchanan again ran off with the team title, finishing with 244 points. The Bears had four in the finals and a total of 10 medalists.

Poway was second with 202.5 points.

Other Poway medalist were: Paul Kelly (third, 138), Billy Townson (fourth, 120), Edwin Sierra (fifth, 113), Aliksandr Kikiniou (eighth, 152) and Adam Farha (eighth, 285).

Granite Hills reached its goal of a top-10 finish, ending up ninth with 76 points.

Collin Guffey fell in the 152 final 2-0 to Michigan-bound Beau Montanona. Abram Cline rebounded from a semifinal loss to come back to claim third at 106.

The team having the best final day of the locals was Rancho Bernardo, climbing from 22nd place with 24 points to finish 13th with 50.

Brandon Eusebio took third at 132, Jacob Jones was sixth at 120 and Marcos Caro added a seventh at 145 for the Broncos.

La Costa Canyon 189-pounder Alexandria Perez returned to the state meet as an eighth-place medalist, and being seeded No. 1, she had a lot of expectations.

Although Perez saw her championship dream dashed when she got caught in a fireman’s carry and pinned by Marina’s Salheron Preciado-meza in the semifinals, she reached down and won a pair of matches to claim third place.

In the third-place matchup, Perez met a familiar foe, Briana Alvarado of Highland. She beat Alvarado in the quarterfinals 4-1, but knew she had a dangerous weapon, a powerful half-nelson.

At one point Perez was in danger of being turned by Alvarado with her favorite tool.

“I didn’t care if my arm fell off, I wasn’t going over,” said Perez, who went on to beat her again, 4-1.

Also earning a third-place medal for the girls was Monte Vista’s talented freshman Olivia Davis at 137.

San Diego Section girls totaled eight medals, with Brawley as the leading finisher in 12th place with 40 points. Marina of Huntington Beach won the team title.

Poway’s Alejandra Valdiviezo took home a fourth at 121.

Rancho Buena Vista had a pair of medalists in Kayla Edwards (fifth, 126) and Kiley Mcclain (seventh, 160). Brawley’s Delarie Juarez added a fifth at 131, Mira Mesa’s Birta Mccaskill a seventh at 106 and Mt. Carmel’s Melanie Haslip an eighth at 150.