SOUTHERN SECTION MASTERS WRESTLING MEET : Reward for Finishing in Top Six: Berth in State Tournament

The Masters Meet, the Southern Section’s no-frills State meet qualifying wrestling tournament, begins at 9:30 a.m. today at Fountain Valley High School.

No team scores are kept, no medals are awarded for placing in the top six, but the reward for finishing that high is a berth in the State tournament next week at Stockton. And that makes the Masters Meet the most important to date.

The Masters Meet makes no distinction among last week’s four Southern Section divisions. Winners from last week’s 4-A meet are lumped with 1-A champions. Winning is important, but placing in the top six is more important.

And if last week’s divisional meet is any indication, Orange County wrestlers should sweep into the State meet in big numbers.

Today’s meet, with competition in 13 weight divisions, features 17 champions from the county.

Savanna, which won its first 3-A section championship last week, qualified seven wrestlers, including Brad Belanger, champion at 130 pounds, and Tony Okada, champion at 135.

It was Okada’s third consecutive section championship. Today, he tries to earn a return trip to the State meet. He was the 132-pound champion last year.

Canyon, the 4-A runner-up, qualified six wrestlers, including individual champions Jason Mitchell (140) and Matt Padgett (160) and runner-up Alan Holmes (152).

Irvine, third in the 4-A meet, also has two champions competing today--Dominic Bulone (135) and Pablo Cunningham (171).

A possible Okada-Bulone matchup at 135 pounds figures to be one of the meet’s highlights.

Matt Baker of Katella (125), Danny Santana of El Modena (145) and Jason Nerio of Esperanza (152) are the county’s other 4-A champions.

David Weiner of University at 130 pounds and David Hernandez of Mater Dei at 152 won championships in the 2-A Division.

Heavyweight Bob Ioja of Garden Grove leads six champions from the 1-A Division.