Alvarez leads 20 to CIF

Estancia High Coach Brian Burgess had his entire wrestling team qualify for the CIF Southern Section Eastern Division tournament. That’s something that usually doesn’t happen, but with seven wrestlers, it did for Burgess at the Garden Grove League finals Saturday at Santiago High.

Efren Alvarez won a league title, making the 189-pounder one of seven Eagles advancing to the two-day CIF event at La Quinta High on Feb. 16-17.

He was one of 20 Newport-Mesa District wrestlers, who advanced to the CIF individual tournament. Corona del Mar also had seven advance, Newport Harbor five and Costa Mesa one.

“Seeing all of [the Eagles] qualify goes to show how hard they’ve worked,” said Burgess after having the most wrestlers place in the top three and qualify to CIF during his four years. “We have two weeks to get ready for the next tournament.”

Alvarez won his title match against Santiago’s Julio Cuevas, 6-5. He recorded an escape with five seconds remaining.

The other six Eagles qualifying to CIF were Pedro Lopez, who finished second at 103 pounds, followed by third-place finishes by Damian Leon (125), Justin Crosson (135), Bryan Torres (140), Gabe Thaler (171) and David Lopez (285).

Costa Mesa’s Cody De La Mater also moved on from the Garden Grove League finals. He took third in the 189-pound class.

CdM’s seven wrestlers qualified for the CIF Southern Section Northern individual tournament led by Max Prescott, who finished second in the heavyweight division at the Pacific Coast League finals at Laguna Hills High.

Cole Shepard (125-pound division), Taylor Fanning (135), Andrew Martinez (140) and Scott Eskew (145) finished third in their respective weight classes, while Christian Nitu (152) and Kendall Pick (189) qualified as alternates.

The Northern Division individual tournament is Feb. 16-17 at Pacifica in Oxnard. All the wrestlers in the various divisions are vying to finish in the top five to qualify for the Masters tournament, Feb. 23-24 at Carter High in Rialto.

That’s where the Sailors hope to be.

The five Newport wrestlers advanced to the CIF Southern Section Coastal Division tournament after placing in the top three at the Sunset League finals at Fountain Valley.

“It’s very nice, because this is a tough league for us,” said Newport Coach Dominic Bulone of the Sunset, which the Sailors moved into this season after getting seven wrestlers to advance out of the Sea View League to CIF. “We had two sophomores step up after the guys I knew would.”

The two seniors Bulone could count on to qualify for the two-day CIF event at Marina High on Feb. 16-17 were Josh George (135) and Brian Beaudette (heavyweight). Both took second place.

The two sophomores emerging were 112-pounder Eddie Garcia and 215-pounder Cameron Rausch, who filled in for injured Bryan Bennett. The other qualifier was Bruce Hartshorn at 189.