Calvary Chapel qualified 11 boys wrestlers to compete in the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet, the most of any Orange County team.

Servite, Fountain Valley and San Clemente are all sending seven wrestlers to Masters, which takes place Friday and Saturday at Sonora High School.

The Masters, which is the qualifier for the CIF State tournament, will be contested with 32-man brackets for each weight class.

The top nine placers from the Masters advance to the state meet Feb. 24-26 at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield.

Ten of the Eagles’ 11 Masters qualifiers finished first or second at the CIF SS Eastern Division tournament Saturday, Feb. 12, at Temecula Valley High School.

Calvary Chapel finished second as a team with 301 points.

The Eagles’ Yoshiya Funakoshi (126), Jack Estevez (138), Evan Gilbert (170), Jetro Preciado (195) are riding first-place finishes to the Masters.

“We asked them to go out there and get pins and our first day every match was a pin but one,” Eagles coach Dane Valdez said. “The second day, all of our matches were pins, all the way to the semis. That’s all we can ask. I think we are peaking at the right time. I think that is something we do well every year. We want them at their best.”

Servite’s Marcus Medina (138) enters the Masters having earned the lower-weight MVP award at the Southern Division tournament at Carter High School.

Medina scored four falls and a technical fall on his way to a first-place finish.

Elijah Poe (108) and Anthony Lucio (115) also finished first for the Friars and are medal contenders in the Masters tournament.

The Servite wrestling team poses for a photo after finishing in second place at the CIF-SS Southern Division championships on Saturday, Feb. 12. (Photo courtesy of Servite High wrestling)

“We are excited to be back at the Masters Meet after not having the tournament last season,” Servite coach Alan Clinton said.

Other county wrestlers with a legitimate chance to place high at Masters include El Dorado’s Isaiah Quintero (106) and Fountain Valley’s Timothy McDonnell (182) who were the lower- and upper-weight MVPs, respectively, at the Central Division tournament at Fountain Valley High School.

The girls CIF SS Masters Tournament takes place Friday and Saturday, Feb. 18-19, at Marina High School. The Vikings will be well represented in their home gym.

Marina’s girls team qualified wrestlers for the Masters in eight weight classes, including Presley Anderson (121) and Alexandra Lopez (143), who were the lower- and upper-weight MVPs at the Central Division championships at La Quinta High School.

Anderson and Lopez both won their four matches by falls.

The Vikings also won the tournament with 226.5 points, barely edging Walnut, which had 226.

San Clemente’s Eden Hernandez (116) has a chance to take home a medal after scoring three falls and a tech fall to finish first at the Eastern Division championships at Corona High School.

Capistrano Valley’s Neila Fritts (235) also finished first at the East Division championships, winning all three of her matches by pins.

Related Articles

Cypress’ Vida Beckel (160) finished first and was the upper-weight MVP at the Northern Division championships at Paloma Valley High School.

The top eight placers at Masters from each weight class qualify for the girls State Invitational Tournament on Feb. 24-26 at the Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield.