Five former San Diego Section wrestling standouts have advanced to this year’s NCAA Division I Championships, which begin Thursday in Cleveland.
As one would expect, alumni of state power Poway High School lead the way. Four of the five wrestlers are former Titans — true freshman Angelo Posada (Stanford), redshirt freshman Laird Root (North Carolina), junior Luke Condon (Wisconsin) and senior Andre Gonzales (Cal Poly). They’re joined by junior Joe Curtis, a La Costa Canyon High School grad now wrestling at Columbia.
Posada comes in as the highest-ranked wrestler of the bunch. He’s seeded ninth at 197 pounds after earning a spot in the field as the runner-up at the Atlantic Coast Conference finals. His steady climb up the rankings came as he racked up a record of 16-5.
“Sure, it has been a good year, and qualifying is great,” said Posada, the two-time state champion while at Poway. “I’m most excited just to complete and not put any stress on myself. And, to score points.”
Posada will open the NCAA Tournament on Thursday morning against Rider’s 24th-seeded Brock Zurawski (22-5).
Laird Root (North Carolina athletics)
Root (16-11), a state finalist his senior year, also qualified through the ACC Tournament. His fourth-place finish at 157 gave him an automatic spot. He enters Cleveland as the No. 30 seed, facing Cornell’s third-seeded Meyer Shapiro (15-1) in his opening match of the double-elimination tournament.
Condon (13-13) got his spot through the Big Ten Tournament, winning three straight matches to qualify at 174. As the No. 32 seed, Condon will wrestle No. 33 Grant O’Dell of Bellarmine (18-14) to earn the right to face top-seeded defending champion Levi Haines (21-0) of Penn State.
Luke Condon (Wisconsin athletics)
Gonzales, a 106-pound state champion for Poway in 2020, had to beat one of his high school teammates to qualify. In the Pac-12 Conference’s 149-pound semifinal, Gonzales squared off against Noah Tolentino of Oregon State for the fourth time this season.
In a match with multiple scrambles, challenge bricks and referee reviews, Gonzales’ takedown was the difference in the 4-2 decision. Seeded No. 27, Gonzales (17-11) will open the NCAAs with a match against sixth-seeded Caleb Tyus of Southern Illinois (22-2).
Curtis (26-2), a two-time state placer at La Costa Canyon, is the Ivy League champion. The No. 24 seed, Curtis opens against ninth-seeded Chris Moore (18-10) of Illinois.
Making history
The first-ever NCAA Women’s Freestyle Championships were held March 6-7 in Coralville, Iowa.
Former Brawley High School state champion Savannah Gomez was part of that historic event. Wrestling for team champion McKendree University, Gomez took fourth place at 160 pounds.
“It feels so great. It’s incredible. I still don’t know what to say,” Gomez said. “Winning it as a team in the first NCAA means a lot to me. It’s everything we worked for all year. We push each other hard. We have a high standard.”
McKendree wasn’t favored to win. Host Iowa, one of the powers of men’s college wrestling, recently added a women’s program. The Hawkeyes led after the first day, but McKendree took the lead on Day 2 and held on for the upset.
Torrey Pines High School graduate Ruby Julien-Newsom, a true freshman at Kings University in Tennessee, lost her first match at 138, but rallied back to battle for a medal with three straight victories. She finished in eighth, concluding her season with a 36-15 record.