Top Individuals Battle for State Final Berths : Prep wrestling: Survivors from today’s Southern Section Masters Meet and City Section finals advance.

Area high school wrestlers competing at two locations will find out today whether they have the right moves to earn a trip to the state finals next week in Stockton.

Seventeen wrestlers from 10 regional schools will participate in the Southern Section Masters meet at Fountain Valley High. The tournament will include 208 wrestlers squaring off in 13 weight classes with the top seven qualifiers in each class advancing to the state finals next Friday and Saturday at University of the Pacific. Wrestlers qualified for the Masters meet based on their performance in last week’s 4-A, 3-A, 2-A and 1-A divisional finals.

At San Fernando High today, 57 wrestlers from seven Valley schools will participate in the City Section finals, which will determine individual champions and a team champion. A total of 104 wrestlers from 10 schools will compete. Only the winner in each weight class will advance to the state finals.

Ventura Coach Paul Clementi is optimistic about several of his wrestlers’ chances at the Masters meet. “We have three really good kids who could go a long way,” he said.

They are Scott Adams (189 pounds), Matt Jones (140) and John Jimenez (119). Jones (46-3) and Jimenez (47-2) won Southern Section 3-A Division titles this season. Adams (31-1), a Southern Section champion as a junior, finished second.

Ventura (21-1) finished ahead of 11 teams to win its first individual team title (in the 3-A division) last week. On Thursday, the Cougars defeated Torrance, 32-18, to win the inaugural 3-A dual-meet final.

Ventura’s Justin Jackson (135) and Jason Carmody also will compete.

Other Southern Section champions scheduled to wrestle include 4-A representatives Jason Pratt of Newbury Park (152) and Jack Artman of Thousand Oaks (145), and 1-A representatives Joel Hansen (152) and Ralph Gutierrez (heavyweight) of Quartz Hill.

Other 4-A representatives include Mark Smith of Simi Valley (heavyweight), Gregg Crisp of Westlake (189 pounds), Sean Burns of Agoura (171), Steve Lee of Newbury Park (119) and Ray Estrada of Channel Islands (103).

Other 3-A representatives include Ernie Nunez (103) and Mario Corona of Oxnard (171). Alemany’s Will Arreola (152) will represents the 1-A. Newbury Park’s Pratt was selected most valuable wrestler of the 4-A finals. Ventura’s Jimenez was selected most valuable wrestler of weights 140 and below in the 3-A finals.

Alternates selected for the Masters include Jesse Holt (135) and Douglas Varner (140) of Simi Valley, Robert Magana of Hueneme (160), Irby Chatelain of Oxnard (189), Ryan Atherton of Ventura (103), Mario Martinez of Quartz Hill (135) and John Paul Burgener of Antelope Valley (heavyweight).

El Camino Real, which last week placed first in the Valley League finals, and Canoga Park each have 13 entries to lead all schools in the City finals. San Fernando, the defending City champion, has 12. Chatsworth has seven, Monroe six, Granada Hills four and Birmingham two.

“Crazy things happen in these tournaments,” said Canoga Park Coach Rudy Lugo, whose team shared the Valley League title with El Camino Real and San Fernando. “Anybody could take any weight.”

Canoga Park’s best bet is junior heavyweight Keith Jardine, a defending City champion. Jardine reached the state finals last season, losing twice in two matches.

San Fernando’s Jorge Hernandez (140), the Valley League’s 140-pound champion, also advanced to the state finals last season after placing first in the City finals. The City finals begin at 11 a.m. and the championship round is scheduled for 6 p.m.

The Masters meet is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m.