Irvine, Newport Harbor Get Share of Top Spot

Irvine Coach John Phillips didn’t have any problems with sharing the Sea View League wrestling title with Newport Harbor Saturday.

The Vaqueros finished a disappointing third during the regular season and were seen as a long shot going into the league championships at Irvine High.

“Of all the years I’ve been coaching, I think this win is the most important for me,” said Phillips, who is in his 10th year at Irvine. “We’ve had a very crazy year, and a lot of people counted us out. But here we are league champions. I feel great.”

Irvine won the meet with 178 points. Newport Harbor, with 152 points, was second and was named co-champion because it was second to Santa Margarita during the regular season. This was Newport Harbor’s first wrestling title.

Newport Harbor Coach Darryl Holiday is in his fourth year of coaching the Sailors and he can remember when a league title seemed nearly impossible.

“We’ve come a long way since I started with this team,” said Holiday. “I remember after my first year coaching, one of our goals was to win a home match. Now, we’re looking at [Southern Section] and state.”

The big surprise was Santa Margarita, which finished fifth after going undefeated during the regular season.

El Toro finished third with 152 points, followed by Woodbridge (110.5), Santa Margarita (109) and Corona del Mar (27).

Newport Harbor and Irvine advanced seven wrestlers into the finals. For Irvine, Andrew Pena (125 pounds) won his fourth consecutive league title, followed by C.H. Rush (130), Lloyd Raber (140), Evan Gunderson (160) and Nick Sanches (171).

Brad Lim (103), Matt Large (112), Rigo Pinon (119), Emmett Olivera (152), Jeremy Munoz (189) and Jason Deere (heavyweight) were champions for Newport Harbor.

Tim Mulhere (135) and Curtis Wright (189) were champions for Santa Margarita. Woodbridge’s Sam Lahidji won the title at 160 pounds.