DIVISION I WRESTLING
PRESCOTT VALLEY — Before this season, Mesa Mountain View had won just one state wrestling title in almost 40 years, despite nearly always being up near the top of the leaderboard.
Coach Bob Callison wasn’t around when Mountain View won its lone title in 2000. He has, however, been a longtime coach in the state but never had everything come together to win a championship. Saturday, all that changed. Mountain View crushed its competition, getting two individual champions and winning the Division I team title by 55 points at Tim’s Toyota Center.
“It’s special,” Callison said. “You’re never sure what you’re going to get, who’s going to show up, but our boys showed up today.
“I’ve been a head coach in the East Valley for 17 years now, so when you chase it for that long … to have it finally come to fruition, it’s amazing.”
Mountain View qualified wrestlers in all but one of the 14 weight classes, the only team in the division to do so. It had five finalists, with senior 138-pounder Ryan Gallo and junior 145-pounder Blake Monty winning their championship matches.
“It’s so surreal,” Monty said of being both a team and individual champion. “I never thought it would really happen. But Coach had a plan for us, from the start of the season to the end. Everything just fell into place, and the dream came true.”
Mountain View’s 197 points easily bested defending champion Tucson Sunnyside’s 142. Sunnyside did have three individual champions — junior Juaqin Olivas at 120 pounds, senior William Olivas (Juaqin’s brother) at 126 and senior Gabriel Gonzales at 195.
Seniors Dajour Reece of Chandler and Michael Suwyn of Glendale Mountain Ridge engaged in a match of unbeatens at 152 pounds. Reece held a 3-1 lead when Suwyn scored a three-point near fall to move ahead with less than a minute to go in the match. Reece than regained position to score a takedown and a near fall of his own to win 8-4.
Saturday’s other champions: Danny Vega, Oro Valley Ironwood Ridge (106 pounds); Alejandro Calderon, Phoenix Maryvale (113); Brett Kasprzyk, Mesa (132); Ethan Tursini, Tempe Corona del Sol (160); Trey Ronayne, Chandler Basha (170); Jro Byrd, Anthem Boulder Creek (182); Lewis Arendall, Peoria Centennial (220); Robert Schrock, Mesa (heavyweight).