Brawley’s Delarie Juarez wins Masters meet, setting up ‘ultimate goal’ — a trip to state meet

Brawley’s Delarie Juarez gave herself a belated birthday present.

Unable to celebrate on the official day for a very simple reason, the Wildcats junior gifted herself a San Diego Section Girls Masters wrestling title Saturday at Southwest-El Centro High School.

“I didn’t want to take any chances making weight,” explained Juarez, who polished off the 145-pound title by pinning Santana’s Amber Spencer in 1 minute, 17 seconds, bringing her season record to an unblemished 28-0 as the No. 1-ranked wrestler in her weight class.

The victory helped Brawley capture the team championship, outscoring Poway, 85-77.

“I want to prove myself,” said Juarez, who finished fifth in the state last year. “I’ve wanted to be the state high school champion since I started wrestling as a 7-year-old. A lot of people don’t think I’m that confident, but with the support of my family, teammates and coaches I want to prove myself.

“Now it’s on to state, my ultimate goal.”

She, like all of the top three wrestlers in 14 weight classes, advance to the state meet, which will be held from Thursday through Saturday in Bakersfield.

Juarez is the only CIF San Diego Section girls wrestler who is ranked No. 1, but she’s up for the challenge looking even beyond that.

“Once I finish the state meet, I can celebrate my birthday (she just turned 17) and a state title with a couple cakes,” she said, after pinning all three of her opponents in less than three minutes.

Two other wrestlers ranked second in the state also advanced. Monte Vista’s Olivia Davis, who was third in the state a year ago, punched her ticket to Bakersfield by capturing the 140-pound weight division with a pin and a pair of major decisions, including capturing the title with an 11-3 decision over Granite Hills’ Lucia Ledezma.

“I wrestle my game,” said Davis. “I’ve seen her (Ledezma) because we train together sometimes. I’ve seen her at Nationals but I felt I controlled the match. I’m proud of myself but I believe we’re both great wrestlers.”

Poway’s Eden Hernandez, who competed for San Clemente last year where she was sixth in the state at 115, moved to 21-1 on the season, capturing the 110-pound weight class pinning all three of her opponents, taking 3:44 to top Holtville’s Mia Navarro.

“I saved it all for the mat,” said Hernandez. “I go in wanting to destroy my competition. I like my chances at state because my one loss was at 115 pounds.”

She was also happy about the Titans girls, five strong, who placed second and all will move on to state.

Poway coach John Meyers couldn’t have been happier.

“That shows you how good those five are,” said Meyers. “We’re slowly building a team and I never thought we’d place second.”

Elsewhere, La Costa Canyon’s Alexandra Perez bounced back from her lone loss this season to capture the 170-pound division moving to 35-1; the Favela sisters from Brawley, Jennifer at 100 and Blanca at 105, both won; and Lauren Zaragosa of Brawley (36-4) scored a narrow 6-4 decision over Poway’s Alejandra Valdiviezo (22-2).

Girls wrestling

San Diego Section Masters Championship

at Southwest-El Centro High School

Team: Brawley 124, Poway 90, Olympian 72, Mira Mesa 58, Rancho Bernardo 50.5, San Marcos 44.5, Vista 39.5, (Tie) Central Union and Granite Hills 39, (Tie) Santana and Steele Canyon 34.

Individuals:

Top 3 advance to state meet

Finals

100—J. Favela (Braw) dec A. Fodera (Pow), 12-6, 105—B. Favela (Braw) pin Tolentino (Coastal), 0:40; 110—Hernandez (Pow) pin Navarro (Holt), 3:44; 115—Gallego (Pow) dec McGaskill (MiM), 7-1; 120—Zaragoza (Braw) dec Valdiviezo (Pow) 6-4; 125—Solis (Oly) pin Fahn (Sant), 2:52; 130—Stanley (GH) dec Gonzalez (Ram) 11-6; 135—Edwards (RBV) pin Raab (Clair) 1:15; 140—Davis (MoV) dec Ledezma (GH) 11-3; 145—Juarez (Braw) pin Spencer (Sant) 1:17; 155—Camacho (Vi) pin Fernandez (Imp) 3:31; 170—Perez (LCC) maj dec Wu (PL) 16-4; 190—Duarte (SM) dec Garrison (Os) 5-4; 235—Orduno-Rivas (ECV) pin Hill (MiM) 3:29.

Third place

100—C. Tolentino (Coast) pin Lopes (RB), 2:52; 105—Sampson (MiM) dec Mason (Oly), 6-5; 110—Collins (Cbad) dec Belmonte (TCC) 9-5; 115—Lopez (Vi) pin Lim (WH) 1:41; 120—Mangen (SM) dec Gutierrez (MH) 2-0; 125—Jones (Pow) dec Ebrahimi (CathC) 3-0; 130—Hopkins (SC) dec Beltran (CU) 8-6 SV1; 135—Rodriguez (CU) pin Wilson (RB) 1:41; 140—Snider (RB) dec Victoria (Oly) 12-10 SV1; 145—Vesco (RB) pin Coles (MiM) 2:00; 155—Righellis (Oly) pin Gaona (SC) 1:42; 170—Vandiver (Braw) pin Molina (EC Sow) 1:41; 190—Moya (CU) pin Perez (Braw) 2:23; 235—Angel (Calex) pin Najera (Oly) 1:00.