Calvary Chapel Expected to Win Another Division Title

Calvary Chapel is expected to win its sixth consecutive title in the Southern Section divisional wrestling championships, which begin today.

Qualifiers from the divisional championships advance to next week’s Masters meet, which is the qualifier for the state tournament, March 1-2 at the University of the Pacific.

Competition begins at 3 p.m today , and concludes Saturday.

Calvary Chapel, which expects to advance more than half its 14 wrestlers from the Division I championships, will be without the county’s top-ranked wrestler at 112 pounds, Tino Archuleta, who failed to make weight at the Olympic League finals and was ruled ineligible for postseason competition.

Other top county teams in the Division I championship, which will be at El Monte High, include El Modena, Anaheim, San Clemente, Mission Viejo and Capistrano Valley.

Irvine, which was runner-up in Division II last year, joins Esperanza and Fountain Valley as the top local teams at the Division II competition at Pico Rivera El Rancho High.

Santa Ana has qualified 13 wrestlers--three of them top-seeded--for the Division III championships at Chino Hills Ayala High. Laguna Hills also will be well represented.

Santiago, after a disappointing showing at last week’s Southern Section dual-meet championships, is hoping for better results in the Division IV competition. Santiago, which qualified 11 wrestlers, will be host.

Six qualifiers in each weight class advance to the Masters from Divisions I and II, with five advancing from Division III and three from Division IV.