Recently in Wrestling Category

Adam Wheeler, a former Lancaster wrestling standout who graduated in 1999, has qualified for the 2008 Olympics (211 1/2 pounds) this summer in Beijing.

I remember covering Wheeler when I first started at the Daily News, as my first beat was wrestling and my first coverage area was Antelope Valley. He was an interesting story because when he first started at Lancaster, he couldn't win a match, even at the JV level, but obviously got a lot better. For a time during his senior year, Wheeler was undefeated -- about 20 matches in a row before he finally lost.

gerry.gittelson@dailynews.com

Draws were released today for Saturday's Southern Section dual meet championships.
Marmonte League champion Royal of Simi Valley is the top local seed at No. 3 in Div. II. The host Highlanders open against Baseline runnerup Los Osos and would likely have to overcome No. 2 North Torrance in order to reach the final and a chance for a third title in four years. Laguna Hills is the division's top seed. Royal's Marmonte rival Thousand Oaks opens against Mission Valley champion Arroyo.
In the Div. V meet at San Gabriel, Golden League champion Highland of Palmdale opens against Santa Ynez and is in line to face No. 1 Bishop Amat in the second round. The Golden League's other representative, Quartz Hill, opens against No. 3 Loara.
Local hopes in Div. VI rest on Mission League champion Alemany and Rio Hondo League champion La Canada, who both have a tough path through the event at Western High in Anaheim. Alemany opens against Santa Paula and could face No. 1 Elsinore in the second round. La Canada begins against Perris and would likely face No. 2 San Jacinto in the second round.
Competition at each site is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.

Here are the results from the Mission League finals at Chaminade, where the top performers qualified for the Southern Section Central division individual championshps Feb. 15-16 at Brea Olinda.

103
1. Ramin Sobati, Chaminade, Soph. 2. Alex Schmidt, Alemany, Soph. 3. Christian Vemoy, Crespi, Fr.

112
1. Ben Kogan, Harvard-Westlake, Fr. 2. Adam Moreno, Chaminade, Jr. 3. Corey Wynn, Brentwood, Fr.

119
1.Craig Seidenglanz, Chaminade, Soph. 2. John Harris, Alemany, Sr. 3. Garret Morris, Crespi, Soph.

127
1. Gavin Ross, Harvard-Westlake, Jr. 2. Steven Flores, Alemany, Jr. 3. Gurjeet Gill, Chaminade, Soph.

132
1. Spencer Friedman, Harvard-Westlake, Jr. 2. Paul Romero, Alemany, Sr. 3. Alex Bader, Crespi, Soph.

135
1. Gary Espinoza, Alemany, Jr. 2. Anthony Micelli, Brentwood, Jr. 3. Tarek Tohme, Harvard-Westlake, Sr.

140
1. Richard Leuchter, Harvard-Westlake, Sr. 2. Johnny Artner, Crespi, Jr. 3. Mike Villegas, Alemany, Sr.

147
1. Daniel Meer, Harvard-Westlake, Sr. 2. Dax Grove, Crespi, Sr. 3. Behrod Gramian, Brentwood, Jr.

152
1. Mikio Island, Crespi, Jr. 2. Hank Murr, Harvard-Westlake, Jr. 3. Henry Stevvens, Brentwood, Fr.

160
1. Sean Cochran, Chaminade, Sr. 2. Evan Ryan, Harvard-Westlake, Jr. 3. John Kearns, Crespi, Soph.

171
1. Anthony Espinoza, Alemany, Soph. 2. Ryan Callahan, Crespi, Jr. 3. Brian Shultz, Harvard-Westlake, Fr.

189
1. Rudy De La Cruz, Brentwood, Sr. 2. Chris Carter, Crespi, Jr., 3. Steven Ray, Chaminade, Soph.

217
1. Akeem Gonzales, Alemany, Fr. 2. Mark Haskell, Crespi, Jr. 3. Nathan Romo, Chaminade, Soph.

HWT
1. Geo Ketchedijian, Alemany, Sr. 2. Mikey Stone, Brentwood, Soph. 3. Karim Williams, Crespi, Sr.

Team Results
1. Harvard-Westlake 152
2. Alemany 146
3. Crespi 141.5
4. Chaminade 106
5. Brentwood 86

Quartz Hill had an encouraging weekend at the Golden League finals, where the Rebels finished in first, had three league champions and 12 qualifiers for the Southern Section Northern individual championships.
There was also reason to be encouraged about the future. Freshmen Eric Arce (103) and Ben Harvey (189) were promoted to varsity as injury replacements, and both took second in their weight class. Harvey had gone 27-0 at the JV level. The freshmen are expected to remain with the team for this weekend's Southern Section duals.
Quartz Hill's league champions were Jacob Ricker (130), Josh Randenberg (152) and Dan Thomas (215).
"It was really cool," Thomas said. "It sucked last year when I came in second, I had to wait a whole year to make up for that. It was cool to take first individually and as a team to prove we are the No. 1 team in the valley. Our lineup's pretty solid."

San Fernando's wrestling team is coming off one of its most encouraging weekends of the season. The Tigers were the top local finisher at the California Invitational Tournament in Morro Bay, placing fifth out of 64 teams. Royal of Simi Valley, which had defeated San Fernando a week earlier to take the title at the Sam DeJohn tournament, finished 10th.
The Tigers had four top-four finishers. Mike Le (119), Mike Solis (140) and Lorenzo Chapman (heavyweight) each placed second. Benito Mendez (103) improved to 28-4 this season by finishing third, losing only to the defending state champion. Rashaad Reynolds' lone loss was to a returning state placer, but Reynolds injury defaulted to fourth place.
Two-time defending City champion San Fernando has finished in the top five in seven of the eight tournaments it has entered this season.
Other top local finishers at the CIT included Simi Valley's Chris Barr, who went 7-1 and finished third at 132 pounds.

When James Mulcahy and Dennis Tregassar took over as the coaches of Granada Hills' wrestling team early last season, they inherited a program with less than two dozen athletes and a reputation as a perennial City Section doormat.
As this year's postseason approaches, the Highlanders are better known as the City's newest threat. Granada Hills is undefeated in West Valley League competition and should be competing for the league title when it faces defending champion El Camino Real of Woodland Hills in next week's league finale. The Highlanders are coming off a third-place finish at Saturday's Reseda Classic.
"We were expecting to do better," Mulcahy said. "We weren't expecting to do this well."
The progress began last year when Granada Hills finished in the middle of the pack at the City finals. This year, they hope to be among the elite.
A big part of the turnaround has been the dramatic increase in participants. The Highlanders are up to 45 wrestlers, enough to field varsity, junior varsity and frosh/soph teams. Only a few had wrestled before high school, but the introduction of an offseason club program aided development.
"We were hitting the PE classes saying, 'come try wrestling,' " Mulcahy said. "So far we've been successful."
With only three seniors this season, the future looks bright.
Senior returning City champion Sebastian Escobar (140 pounds) heads the contingent of potential City champions. He's 23-5 this season and has fared well against Southern Section opponents with outings such as a title at the Chaminade tournament.
Joe Liu (119), Joaquin Bacon (125) and David Karp (189) joined Escobar as the top finishers in their respective weight class at the dual-format Reseda Classic. Oscar Aviles (145), who placed fourth in the City last year, recently returned from injury and is 10-1.
"We're peaking," Tregassar said. "It's perfect timing for the El Camino meet, the league championship. Everyone should be healthy and ready to go."
This week, Granada Hills hosts Vaughn on Thursday.

San Fernando continues to blow the competition out of the water.... they won every weight class except one tonight against Monroe. Kudos to the one kid from Monroe who won...

VALLEY MISSION
San Fernando 68, Monroe 6
103: Garcia (SF) pinned Pineda, :23
112: Gallegos (SF) pinned Valladeres, :45
119: Le (SF) Maldonado, 18-2
125: Romero (SF) pinned Catalan, 5:45;
130: Palacios (SF) d. Rodriguez, 10-0
135: Saenz (SF) pinned Herrera, 2:45
140: Solis (SF) won by forfeit
145: Gonzalez (SF) pinned Yasin 2:43
152: Reynolds (SF) pinned Fernandez, 2:45
160: Mendoza (M) pinned Barajas
171: Arrizon (SF) d. Mena, 17-1
189: Gatana (SF) won by forfeit
215: Castillo (SF) pinned Vasquez, 3:45
HVWT: Chapman (SF) pinned Whitnall, 1:00.
Records: SF 3-0 in league, M 6-6, 1-2.

And im Marmonte league action it was Agoura over Newbury Park, 51-18...
103: Downard (NP) won by forfeit
112: Holmes (NP) pinned Yim, 2:57
119: Cohen (A) pinned Smith, 1:10
125: Flora (NP) d. Silverman, 5-4
130: Yates (A) pinned Sapinoso, :42
135: Walczuk (NP) d. Wolhaupter, 6-5
140: Skinner (A) pinned Bapat, 2:27
145: Kurian (A) pinned Nakano, :41
152: Combs (A) pinned Southon, 1:54
160: VanGelderan (A) pinned Comeava, 2:30
171: Combs-Kanke (A) pinned Lorimer, :57
189: Coons (A) won by forfeit
215: Claxton (A) d. Hanna, 9-7 (OT)
HVWT: Double forfeit.
Records: NP 0-6 in league, A 13-8, 3-3.