For the last two years, Granite Hills High School has finished as the runner-up in the CIF San Diego Section Division 1 section wrestling meet.
That all changed on Saturday. The Eagles reached the mountaintop by taking home their first section championship in Division 1 at Del Norte High School.
The Eagles had representation in 11 of the 14 first-place matches, winning nine individual crowns on the way to 356.5 points. Rancho Bernardo finished second at 239, followed by Torrey Pines at 211.
“That’s a pretty good accomplishment,” Eagles coach Jesse Sheard said. “It goes back to the kids putting in the work and all of our amazing coaches taking time away from their families and their children to make sure our kids are well prepared.”
In the lightweights, Cash McClurg (108 pounds) and Emilio Escobar (120) won titles, the latter winning 21-5 for a technical fall. Uriah Hawkins (134), Ames-Michael Hoevker (146), David Daniels (152) and Aiden Chur (159) all secured wins in the middleweights.
Granite Hills swept the final three heaviest weights. Jovanni Mansour (192), Steven Gomez (217) and Travin Shahbaz (285) capped off Granite Hills’ dominance on the mat.
“I call them the closers,” Sheard said of Mansour, Gomez and Shahbaz. “Anytime in a duel or whatever and we need those three to sweep, they do it. It’s a great feeling.”
The dominant performance gives Granite Hills momentum heading into the Masters meet and, should wrestlers advance, the state championships.
“It motivates us a lot because we’re coming for state places, state titles, Masters places and Masters titles,” Hoevker said. “We’re coming for all that. It makes a great difference that we have all these guys here.”
Rancho Bernardo had two wrestlers earn individual titles with Diego Cortes (115) and Sam Pinto (177).
Rounding out the top five in team scoring were Mira Mesa at 154.5 points and Carlsbad at 150.5 points.