CRESPI REPEATS AS LEAGUE CHAMP CELTS SWEEP TEAM CONTEST AT MISSION FINALS.

Byline: Daily News

The beat kept going for the resurgent Crespi High wrestling program Saturday, as the Celts of Encino - in only their fourth season since the school resurrected its program - captured a second consecutive Mission League championship.

This time, they did it in undefeated fashion, following a 3-0 league dual-meet season with a 3-0 sweep of round-robin play in the league tournament at Crespi, where the Celts defeated Harvard-Westlake 57-24, Chaminade 69-3 and Alemany 48-33.

The effort earned Crespi another berth in the Southern Section Div. VI dual-meet championship, where the Celts hope for and probably can expect a better seeding than last year, when they were eliminated early by eventual champion Highland of Palmdale in the second round.

``The chances are good we'll probably get the 5 or 6 seed,'' said Crespi coach Michael Odman, whose Celts - ranked No. 8 in Div. VI - will join league runner-up Alemany in Saturday's dual-meet championship at Charter Oak High in Covina.

``We ran into Highland in the second round last year and got bounced,'' Odman said. ``This year, we want to avoid the No. 1 and No. 2 seed if we can. I believe we can make the semis and flirt with maybe making the finals.''

The Celts will make their bid with a team including six league champions and eight other wrestlers who qualified for individual postseason competition as league runners-up Saturday.

Luis Munoz (competing at 114 pounds), Martin Ciccolini (132), Sean Ellis (142) and Sione Fua (heavyweight) repeated as league champions for Crespi, and Joshua Morgan (191) and Lamar Reed (137) won their first league titles for the Celts - Reed so impressively that he was named lower-weight MVP of the league tournament.

``This is a wonderful thing,'' Odman said. ``We re-created a program from nothing and we're making Crespi history as we go.''

Alemany, which defeated Harvard-Westlake 43-35 in round-robin play Saturday, earned the league's second and final postseason berth on the basis of that decision after both teams finished 3-3 in combined regular- season and league-final play.

Kenny Cachola (105), Jimmy Prince (121), Louie Heredia (127), Phil Hoffman (154) and Sean McGill all won league titles for Alemany, Hoffman repeating as champion. The Indians added three more postseason qualifiers as league runners-up, including Blais Pacol, whose 114-pound match with Crespi's Munoz was one of the best of the day.

Mac Wiseley (147), Jeremy Stuart (162) and Kenji Porter (217) of Harvard-Westlake captured the remaining league titles, Stuart adding middleweight MVP honors and Porter taking MVP for the higher weights.

While Harvard-Westlake did pull off an upset of Alemany in the regular season, missing weights in the lineup too often hurt the Wolverines' chances to be competitive in dual meets. But with Stuart (36-3) and Porter (36-2) - both ranked among the top six in Southern Section in their weight divisions - Harvard-Westlake could enjoy some extended success in individual postseason competition, which starts Feb. 20-21 at Edison High in Huntington Beach for the Mission League.

- Dave Shelburne

MARMONTE LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Royal of Simi Valley was undefeated this year in winning the league title and the Highlanders continued their dominance in the league finals at Simi Valley High by winning four weight-class championships and qualifying nine wrestlers for the CIF finals.

``The team did a great job qualifying eight for the (league) finals tonight and we had more champions (four) than any other school even qualified for the finals,'' Royal coach Paul Mole said.

Mole was named Marmonte Coach of the Year and Eric Blackwell, champion in the 154-pound class, was named the league's outstanding upper-weight wrestler for Royal.

Blackwell, a junior, needed a two-point takedown in overtime to defeat Matt Markey of Newbury Park to win his first league championship after second-place finishes the last two years. In league matches, Blackwell was 7-0 and 31-4 overall, including a second-period pin of Markey in the league meet between the two schools and a first-place finish at the Newbury Park tournament.

``Being a champion is a great feeling, especially after finishing second the last two years,'' Blackwell said. ``I pinned (Markey) earlier this year and he got a lot tougher since then and I didn't expect to go into overtime to beat him.''

Also winning individual championships for Royal were freshman Kevin Dunn (105), junior Adam Rundgren (114) and senior Bobby Beasley, who recorded a major decision at 132 pounds.

Thousand Oaks won three weight-class championships and qualified seven for CIF, including Jacob Chun, winner at 142 pounds and named the outstanding lower-weight wrestler.

Chun pinned Andrew Mihalo of Royal in 2:47, and teammates Matt Hanley and Phil Serchia also won by fall in the 191-pound and heavyweight divisions, respectively, for Thousand Oaks.

Simi Valley, Agoura and Newbury Park had two weight-class champions - and five CIF qualifiers each - including Chris Nelson of Newbury Park in a slight upset, 6-4 in overtime over Drew Merat of Royal at 121 pounds. Nelson avenged a one-point loss to Merat in the league dual meet between the two schools, and Merat was a league champion last year as a sophomore. Robbie Omoto was Newbury Park's other champion at 127 pounds.

Joel McKeehan at 173 pounds and Richard Cano (7-0 in league and a league champion last year) at 137 pounds won championships for host Simi Valley.

John Terndrup of Agoura won by fall in 5:07 in the 217-pound class and teammate Ryan Castle, competing at 147 pounds, won by decision 3-0.

The final champion was Eric Gonzalez of Moorpark in the 162-pound class. Gonzalez was 7-0 in league and 24-4 overall, including a first place at the Irvine tournament and a second at the San Fernando tournament.

- George Vranau

GOLDEN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS

For perennial league power Highland of Palmdale, the league individual championships and qualifying tournament at Palmdale High - the last sanctioned wrestling event in the Antelope Valley in the 2003-04 season - could just as well have been opening day.

``The way we see it, there are three seasons,'' Highland coach Mike Young said. ``(Nonleague), Golden League and the (Southern Section) playoffs, and playoffs began today.''

And if their performance in the match was any indication, the Bulldogs are off to a nice start.

Highland set a school record with eight individual champions and qualified the maximum 14 wrestlers for the Southern Section Inland Division Individual Championship Tournament at Ayala High of Chino Hills on Feb. 20-21.

The Bulldogs (29-2), who had already won their 11th league title in 12 years, will defend their Southern Section Div. VI team title at Charter Oak High in Covina on Saturday. Highland is ranked No. 1 in its division.

``It's good, but I want the Ayala one, that's the one I'm looking at,'' said Highland 114-pounder Kyle Burnett (35-4), an 11-1 major-decision winner over Quartz Hill's Grant Lloyd.

Burnett is among several Highland wrestlers who figure to have an excellent opportunity to place at the Southern Section individuals. Others include individual champions Jeremiah McGuffee (154), Steve Fren (137) and Chris Gelfo (127).

McGuffee (35-4), a former national tae kwon do champion, defeated Shawn De Horney 9-2. Fren (35-3) pinned Lancaster's Mark Miscione in 52 seconds, and Gelfo (31-6) was a 5-3 winner over teammate Blaine Burton.

``This has the potential to be one of the best teams I've ever coached,'' Young said.

--Notes: Antelope Valley coach Ron Coleman spent the day shuttling back and forth between the Palmdale gym and a local hospital to be with his wife, Lena, and newborn son, Ryan. Lena Coleman underwent a cesarean section Friday. ... Quartz Hill individual champion Garrett Williams (162) improved to 38-0 with a 4-2 victory over Littlerock's Johnny Garso. ... Tenth-ranked Antelope Valley (11-11), which finished second in league, also will compete in the Southern Section team championships, and third-place Lancaster will petition for an at-large berth at Tuesday's seeding meeting. ... Quartz Hill qualified nine wresters for the Southern Section individual championships and Lancaster qualified eight. ... Highland was represented by 12 wrestlers in the championship round.

- Gideon Rubin

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Photo:

Royal freshman Kevin Dunn pins an opponent en route to the 105-pound title.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News