Wrestling Powers Poway, Valhalla Remain the Class of the Field

High school wrestling teams are traditionally strong in the North and East counties, and nothing has happened to change that this season.

Up north is Poway, last year’s state champion and still the class of the county. To the east is Valhalla, three-time defending 2-A champion and the team with the county’s top wrestler--senior Mark Gerardi, a two-time state champion who has not lost a match since his freshman year.

This sport is not noted for sudden changes or radical transformations.

“Wrestling isn’t like football or basketball, where if you lose one good kid you go down the tubes,” said El Camino Coach Dayle Mazzarella, whose team was the section’s 2-A runner-up last season. “In wrestling, even if you lose a real stud kid, it’s only one-thirteenth of your program. It has more to do with the strength of the program, and that doesn’t change very much from year to year.”

For the first time since the division was formed in 1982, Poway is not the reigning 3-A champion. Although the Titans scored the most points at the championship match, they were forced to forfeit the title to runner-up Mount Miguel when they entered a wrestler more than two weight classes above his established minimum, a violation of section rules.

Poway went on to win the Masters Tournament (the unofficial county championship) and the state title. Although most of the top wrestlers from that team are gone, the Titans’ reputation as the county’s dominant team has not changed.

“Poway’s not as good as they were last year, but their JV was strong enough last year to make up for the seniors who left,” said Coach Russ Kusimoto of Mount Miguel, Poway’s top challenger in the 3-A.

Here’s a look at the top teams in the section’s three divisions:

3-A

Coach Wayne Branstetter has described the 1985-86 team as his best. Poway sent 10 members of that team to the state meet, four more than any school in California. Though eight of the 10 have either graduated or transferred, there is no such thing as a rebuilding year at Poway.

“I had an outstanding junior varsity team,” Branstetter said.

So far, Poway is 5-0 in dual meets and finished first in the 35-team El Cajon Tournament and the 17-team Monte Vista Tournament. Anchoring Poway are two state championship veterans: Shane Rosselle, who placed eighth in the state 108-pound class, and Marty Lewis, seventh in the state among 115-pounders. Rosselle, a junior, is undefeated in 18 matches this season; Lewis, a senior, is 12-1.

Senior Brian Woods was the wrestler who unwittingly cost Poway the section title last season when Branstetter entered him in the 177-pound class, after Woods had competed three classes lower in the 147-pound division earlier in the season. Wrestling as a 168-pounder this season, Woods is 18-0 and may help the Titans recapture the 3-A championship.

Other top wrestlers for Poway include Kipp Anderson (15-3) in the 148-pound division and Ross O’Briant, a 135-pounder who is 5-0 after being injured early in the season. O’Briant was named the outstanding wrestler at the Monte Vista tournament.

Mount Miguel has finished second to Poway in the last two 3-A championship meets. Kusimoto acknowledged that the Titans still have the edge but said the gap is shrinking.

“We’re probably 60% better than we were last year,” he said. “I think we have a little more balance than we did, though we probably have three weights that are weak: 126, 132 and heavyweight.”

The Matadors have no weakness in the 154-pound class, occupied by senior Manny Diaz-Conti (17-3). Last year, he won at the section championships, the Masters championship and the state freestyle competition at 165. Other strengths are junior Tin Nguyen (18-4) at 100, Brian Millum (10-1) at 175 and junior Eric Stottlemyer (11-2) at 165.

2-A

Valhalla Coach Glen Takahashi admits that his team is not as strong as it has been, but, he adds, neither is this division. The Norsemen, 2-A champions the last three years, appear strong enough to retain their title, though they face challenges from several teams, led by El Camino and including Orange Glen and Oceanside.

Valhalla has won its three dual meets this season and placed fifth in a strong field at the El Dorado Tournament in Orange County.

As usual, Gerardi (17-0) at 148 pounds has been the driving force, so much so that opposing coaches often try to enter their top wrestlers in other classes to avoid facing him.

The team includes Scott Sievert, a 138-pounder who is 7-0 despite a hand injury. In the lighter classes, the Norsemen are led by Arthur Tokanoshi (9-4) at 107. Takahashi said that Tokanoshi’s record is deceptive.

“We have one of the toughest schedules around, with the idea being if we beat the kids up with these tough opponents, they’ll be better prepared for the playoffs,” Takahashi said.

El Camino, the 2-A runner-up last season after winning the 1-A championship the previous three years, has started slowly this season, winning half of its dual meets. Many of the wrestlers who competed for El Camino in the heavier weight classes last year simply chose not to go out for the team this season, Mazzarella said.

“Most of our lower-weight kids place in the finals,” Mazzarella said. “Obviously, we can’t win a dual meet giving up 30 points. So, we’re definitely individual-oriented.”

However, El Camino may have enough strong individuals to do well at the state level. Top wrestlers include John Grubbs, the defending state champion in the 107-pound class, and his brother, Mike, touted by Mazzarella as “one of the better guys in the state” in the 100-pound class.

1-A

When El Camino moved up to 2-A, Clairemont took over as the top team in the small schools division, beating Ramona for the section title. Clairemont has won its four dual meets so far this season and took first in its division at the Mira Mesa, Carlsbad and El Cajon tournaments.

Leading the Chieftains is Eric Rozsa (119 pounds), who is undefeated in 22 matches and was the most valuable wrestler at the Carlsbad Tournament.