Temecula Wrestlers Dominate at League Finals

Temecula Valley High School wrestlers took home top prizes this weekend at the 2012 Southwestern League varsity individual finals.  

The Golden Bears led the way with the Chaparral High School Pumas close behind when tallying first-place finishes at the Vista Murrieta gym Saturday afternoon at the 2012 Southwestern League varsity individual finals.

Wrestling is a sport where teams compete for honors as do their individual wrestlers.

Perennial league champion, Temecula Valley, was expected to do well considering having captured its 24^th consecutive league championship team title this season.  The Golden Bears did not disappoint as they went home with five individual champions, four second-place and two third-place medals.

Chaparral finished with four league champions, four second-place and three third-place medals.

Great Oak High School had two league champions, two second-place and four third-place medals.

As teams, Temecula Valley and Chaparral earned the right to move on to the CIF-Southern Section Division I dual meet competition by virtue of their first- and second-place finishes in league. 

That meet is next Saturday at South Hills High School in West Covina. 

The Golden Bears are the reigning CIF dual meet champions, winning over Oak Hills High School last season.

At this point in their season, wrestlers’ weight classes increase slightly to allow for growth. Each school competed at three levels: freshmen, JV and varsity.

Athletes in Saturday’s matches competed in the 14 weight classes between 108 and 287 pounds.

Individual matches had three, two-minute periods.

The wrestler with the most points at the end of the third period wins that match.  A match can end earlier with a pin.

Last Thursday, Chaparral assistant coach Jake Paino told Patch he is happy with his team’s performance this season considering some key injuries and illnesses.

“Both Danen Calvin and Yopoldo Rodriguez missed competitions this year due to injuries,” said Paino.

Calvin captured the 140-pound weight class Saturday with a pin over Great Oak’s Jeremiah Bailey.  Rodriguez advanced to the championship round but lost to Temecula Valley’s Brett Sayre only 30 seconds into the match by a pin.

Vista Murrieta’s Nick Jazo was named the most-valuable athlete in the lower-weight classes.