Preview: State’s best wrestlers square off starting Thursday night at state meet

California State Wrestling Championships

When: Thursday-Saturday; wrestling starts 9 a.m. each day. Finals scheduled for 6:15 p.m. Saturday on two mats.

Where: Mechanics Bank Arena, Bakersfield

Boys

Defending team champion: Clovis Buchanan (seventh consecutive title)

Returning medalists: Robert Platt (Poway) 1st 197 pounds; Edwin Sierra (Poway) 5th 113; Abram Cline (Granite Hills) 3rd 106; Billy Townson (Poway) 4th 120; Paul Kelly (Poway) 3rd 138; Laird Root (Poway) 2nd 145, Marcus Caro (Rancho Bernardo) 7th 145; Collin Guffey (Granite Hills) 2nd 152; Angelo Posada (Poway) 2nd 160; Aliaksandr Kikiniou (Poway) 8th 152; Adam Farha (Poway) 8th 285.

Current top-10-ranked wrestlers: Arseni Kikiniou (Pow) No. 1 106; Sierra (Pow) No. 1 113; Cline (GH) No. 4 113; Robert Jones (Pow) No. 10 120; Townson (Pow) No. 3 126; Elias Navida (Pow) No. 5 132; Kelly (Pow) No. 2 138; Caro (RB) No. 5 144; Mario Carini (Pow) No. 8 144; Root (Pow) No. 3 150; Jack Estevez (Pow) No. 8 157; Guffey (GH) No. 1 160; Al. Kikiniou (Pow) 10th 160; Posada (Pow) No. 1 175; Platt (Pow) No. 2 215; Farha (Pow) 5th 285.

Notable: Top-ranked Poway is favored to win its fifth team title (1986, 1999, 2005, 2009). Buchanan, winner of the last seven, will not go easily — even though the Titans beat Buchanan in both tournament action and 28-26 in a regular-season dual meet. The San Diego Section record of 15 state medalists (2003) is in sight. San Diego returns 11 medalists from last year, eight from Poway. That list doesn’t include Poway’s state top-ranked freshman 106-pounder Arseni Kikiniou and No. 5-ranked senior 132-pounder Navida (38-3). Platt (17-1) must go through unbeaten sophomore Coby Merrill of Riverside J.W. North to repeat as state champion. Platt beat Merrill 3-1 in last year’s 197-pound final. but Merrill won 3-2 this year at the Doc Buchanan Invitational. Sierra (32-2) and Cline (40-5) are on course to collide for the third week in a row in the 113-pound semifinals. Unbeatens Guffey (46-0) and Posada (28-0) look to return to the finals with different outcomes.

Eden Hernandez leads Poway’s girls into the state meet.

(John Meyers )

Girls

Defending team champion: Huntington Beach Marina (second consecutive title)

Returning medalist: Birta McCaskill (Mira Mesa) 7th 106, Eden Hernandez (Poway) 6th 111, Alejandra Valdiviezo (Poway) 4th 121, Kayla Edwards (RBV) 5th 126, Delarie Juarez (Brawley) 5th 131, Olivia Davis (Monte Vista) 2nd 137, Alexandra Perez (LCC) 3rd 189.

Current top-8-ranked wrestlers: Hernandez (Pow) No. 4 110, Xiomera Gallego (Pow) No. 3 115, McCaskill (MiM) No. 4 115, Valdiviezio (Pow) No. 2 120, Lauren Zaragosa (Braw) No. 3 120, Alina Solis (Oly) No. 7 125, Kyli Stanley (GH) No. 7 130, Edwards (RBV) No. 1 135, Davis (MoV) No. 2 140, Juarez (Braw) No. 1 145, Perez (LCC) No. 3 170.

Notable: The San Diego Section secured a pair of top seeds with RBV’s Edwards (39-1) at 135 pounds and Brawley’s Delarie Juarez (25-0) at 140. Last year’s finalists Davis (28-2) of Monte Vista (135) and Perez (35-1) of La Costa Canyon (170) are seeded second and third, respectively. Masters team champion Brawley and runner-up Poway each have five wrestlers in the field. Brawley’s No. 3 seed Zaragoza (32-7) and Poway’s No. 2 seed Valdiviezo (22-2) are on a collision course for a semifinal rematch of their 120-pound Masters final, won by Zaragoza, 6-4. The last girls state champion was Brawley’s Savannah Gomez in 2022.