Wrestlers finish in top third of El Dorado tournament
Ramona High School finished in the top third in the prestigious El Dorado Wrestling Tournament.
Forty-five of the state’s best teams met in Orange County for the first big tournament of the season. Powerhouse Poway won the tournament. Calvary Chapel and La Costa Canyon were in the top three.
Valhalla High School took 14th, just a few points ahead of Ramona.
Bulldog team captain Brian Orr (189) was the team’s top finisher. He took second place in the tournament with a 5-1 record and beat the number two and number three ranked wrestlers in San Diego County.
Dannery Apaez (275) took third place in the heavyweight division. He went 5-1 overall.
Despite reporting late from football, Brett Germain (215) won the seventh place medal.
Connor Koch (103), Cesar Munoz (112), Spaso Ilich (119) and Sean Conroy (125) each finished the tourney with two wins and two losses. Conroy pinned Calvary Chapel’s medalist in 39 seconds.
Brodie Chenowth (145), Jared Widner (152) and Connor Martin (1-2) all went 1-2. Pat Burns (171) finished 0-2.
“It was a great experience and we proved that we can wrestle with the best programs in the state,” said Coach Steve Koch. “Most of the teams in that tournament are perennial powers in the state meet. Winning three medals was a big accomplishment.
“We still have work to do, but we are moving in the right direction.” stated Coach Steve Koch.
Frosh/Soph
Ramona’s freshmen and sophomore wrestlers finished with a 6-3 record against some of the best wrestling powers in Southern California in the Vista Frosh/Soph Dual Meet Tournament.
“We beat Vista, La Costa Canyon and Canyon High School, three of the best programs in the state,” said Coach John Rodriquez. “We had nine matches and we got every wrestler that came to the tournament a bout.
“We may have won a couple of other matches, but frosh/soph wrestling is about getting athletes mat time. I am very proud of what we accomplished and how well the team did.
The 40-plus players create numbers that are great, “but that becomes a scheduling headache,” said Rodriguez. “There will be some interesting wrestle-offs just to see who can go to the tournaments. It is a great problem to have.”
Rodriguez praised the freshmen who participated in their first tournament.
“Elias Jaurequi (3-2), Dylan Vizcarra (2-0), Cole Travis (1-2) and Rio Rodriguez (2-1) all wrestled well and did well in their first tournament,” he said. “Some of our sophomores that have experience didn’t get as many bouts that they will get in future tournaments, or we would have done better in the win loss column. However, we did beat some pretty good teams when we used our experienced guys. Overall we did very well.”