STATENO.1HANDLESPOWAY

state meetanyway If we lose, nothing changes. We’re still the No 2 team. We gained somedataonthem.

outthey get hard-foughtduals.Thisisthe toughestdual we’ve hadin a few years.

turnedaroundanddowned theTitansat thestate meet laterthat year.

Angelina Leal Olympian Highwrestler,ontitle

win at 123 pounds.

Mira Mesamade a late run atthe teamtitle.The Marauderssweptallfiveofthefinalsthey were in Their champions were: Emma DeGraziano (103 pounds),Lena Truong(113),HelenaInsko (118), Kyla Pattillo(133) and HannahCatungal(152).

BY TERRYMONAHAN

PowayHigh,the No.2rankedwrestling teamin California, wentnorth to Clovis on Saturday afternoon to face thebest team around.

Top-rankedBuchanan, whichhas wonthelast five state championshipsin the pastsix yearswithno state title offeredin 2021 because of coronavirus,is ranked No. 1in thestate and No.4 inthe nation, wasup to the challenge oftheTitans.

Buchanan won 11 ofthe 14 matchesfora 55-9victoryin thedual meetin Buchanan’s footballstadiumonaraised stage atmidfield.

“The atmosphere was spectacularwithonesideof thestadium almost filled,” Poway coach John Meyers said.“It was like nootherdualmeetI’ve ever seen.

“I toldthemif we win, great.But we’llhave to see themin three weeksatthe

“Wemadesomecritical mistakes. We couldhavewon three orfour more tight matches.”

Poway which hadthree sophomoresand five freshmenin thelineup, got wins from freshman Edwin Sierra (108pounds), freshmanAngelo Posada(160)and junior LucasCondon(170).

“Thebrightspots were Sierraat 108andCondon at 170, Meyerssaid. “They wrestled completematches, perfect matchesforallsix minutes.That’s what you need to do to beatthose guys.

“Posada wonhismatch, buthe got reversedin the final five secondsand we losta teampoint.He wonhis match,butthat’s notwhat wewant to beinstate meet.”

Meyers got plenty of data forthenext three weekson theBears,buthealsoknows hiswrestlersbetter now, too.

“Wecameouthardin mostmatches,”he said. “One advantage theyhave in Clovisis weekin and week

“This wasa definite learning experience for our guys.I woulddothisagain. What we neededatthistime. We were exposedinalotofareas.We’d staywiththemforfour or five minutesandthenmakea mistake.

“I’mhappy we didthis.”

OfBuchanan’s 11 victories,fourwinscameviapins —juniorCisco Cabrera(120) over freshmanBilly Townsonin 2:42 juniorSloan Swan(152) oversophomore Laird Rootin 3:09 senior Joseph Martin(195) over BradenPeasein 4:37 and junior KeanuTrellas (220) oversophomoreAdam Farha in 3:15.

“It’s allabout getting readyfor March,” Meyers said.“We’reinsameboat we were in yesterday.Theride homecouldhavebeenbetter.

“I’mnotdiscouraged. We’relickingour wounds.I feelsorry today butby Monday we’llstart rockingand rollingagain.”

Meyers recalledadual meetin2006when Poway beatBuchanan,which

“Crazierthings have happened,”he said.“Itcanbe done.Theyare oneofthe top teams,the top publicschool inthe country for a reason.

“Istillbelieve we’reas goodasthose guys. None of ourkids were in aweof them.”

PowayhoststheSanDiegoSectionDivisionII championshipsSaturday withthe Master’s Meeton Feb. 18-19at ChristianHigh inElCajon,\followedbythe State Championshipson Feb.24-26in Bakersfieldat the MechanicsBankArena. Monahanis a freelancewriter.

Clovis Buchanan 55, Poway9 108pounds —Sierra(P)dec.A.Harris(Buchanan)4-1; 115 R.R. Harris(Buchanan)dec. Navida(P)6-2; 122 Cabrera(Buchanan)pinned Townson(P)2:42;

128 —Contino(Buchanan)dec. Kelly(P)6-4;

134 J. Gioffre(Buchanan)dec.Bobzien(P)11-2; 140 —M.Gioffre(Buchanan)dec. Lopez(P)8-0;

147 —Lake(Buchanan) dec. Tolentino(P) 2-0;

154 Swan(Buchanan)pinned Root(P)3:09;

162 Posada(P)dec.Espinoza (Buchanan)9-2;

172 —Condon(P)dec.Mendoza (Buchanan) 5-2; 184 Kampbell(Buchanan)dec.Bomberger (P)6-3; 197 —Martin(Buchanan)pinned Pease (P) 4:37; 222 Trellas(Buchanan)pinned Farha(P) 3:15; HWT Rodgers(Buchanan)dec. Lytle(P) 3-2.

Leal was also celebrating her birthday with thetitle.

Thisisthe first timethe divisions were heldsince2019 whentheEaglesalsowereDivisionI champions. Last year thesection justheld one combined tournament in May, the only section to hold achampionship.

For fellow Olympian champion CelinaEsquer, havinghernameincluded among school champions meanssomethingmore.

“Comingin I was prayingI couldhave mynameupthere next to my brother Mikey’s onthe wall,”saidEsquer the seniorwho took upthesport justtwoyearsagoaftergiving up soccer. “He’s intheArmy right now and I thinkI’m going to join the military myself.”

Esquerpinned Alexa Davis at2:56 to claim the 128poundtitle.

Another championinfluenced to give things up becauseofhersiblings was Powaysophomore Alejandra Valdiviezo.

“I wasa cheerleader but gave itup to be a wrestler,” said Valdiviezo “Allmy brotherswrestled so I had to learn to defendmyself.I fellin love with it.”

Inthe final Valdiviezo registered an 11-2major decision over RBV’s KaylaEdwards to

Olympian was able to holdonasAlinaSolisdecisioned Elizabeth LeNoir of SteeleCanyon 4-1 to win at 139. No stranger to themedal stand is Calexico’s Karen Solis,who won her fourthsectioncrown bydecisioning XiomaraGallego of Poway 4-1 inthe 108-pound final.

“With nostateslast year I’m notable togetmyfourth state medal,soI’m very happy with gettingmyfourth CIF championship,”saidSolis. Otherwinners were: Grossmont’s KyliStanley (145),Carlsbad’s Sanchez Yessenia(162), Aurora Hardy of Torrey Pines(172) and Faith ManisofSteele Canyon(192).

DivisionII Host Brawleyplacedsix wrestlersinthe finalswith champions,four by first periodpins, to claimanother DivisionIItitle.

Thequickest of those pins was by Mia Navarro at 108, who needed just 27 seconds to pin Yadirah Chavez ofImperial.

Other first-periodpinners were Delarie Jaurz at 118 (1:40) Savannah Gomez at 139 (1:06) and Dylan Jardon at 172 (1:27) The Wildcats’ fifth champion was Jaylee Cazares at 103. She needed 35 seconds ofthesecond period before winning her title.

Farmeris a freelancewriter.