Sunnyside outlook bright for D2 repeat

February 11, 2020 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Sunnyside's Jesse Ybarra aims for his third individual title in four years this week at the Division 2 state wrestling meet in Prescott Valley. (Photo by Andy Morales)

Sunnyside may have felt like it already competed in the Division 2 state tournament after last weekend's sectional with most of its Southern Arizona counterparts.

If the Blue Devils can outlast the likes of Ironwood Ridge, Marana Mountain View and Cienega rather comfortabley in a sectional  the state meet grind may not seem so rigorous.

Sunnyside should be the favorite to repeat this week in the D2 state meet Thursday and Friday at the Finley Toyota Center in Prescott Valley. Action gets underway Thursday at 10 a.m. with several rounds running the length of the day through semifinal action. Friday will be set aside for finals in the evening beginning at approximately 7:30.

Sunnyside qualified wrestlers in all 14 weight classes with seven winning section titles and three more finishing as runners-up. The Blue Devils are led by three returning state champs in senior Jesse Ybarra, junior James Brown and sophomore Jaime Rivera and one returning runner-up finisher in Fernando Villascusa.. 

Section runner-up Ironwood Ridge and third-place Marana Mountain View also will be well represented at state. Both schools qualified 12 with Ironwood Ridge managing two champions and Marana Mountain View three. Other team section winners who should make noise this week are Casteel with 11 qualifiers three section champs and Raymond Kellis with 10 qualifiers and two section champs. 

The top four seeds from each weight class for this week's state meet:

106 - 1. Eathon Rider, Millennium. 2. Jackson Rustad, Casteel. 3. Daniel Miranda, Marana Mtn. View. 4. Timothy Valencia, Ironwood. 113 - 1. Job Lee, Sunnyside. 2. Gavin Gonzales, Ironwood. 3. Colby Ryan, Raymond Kellis. 4. Will Effinger, Casteel. 120 - 1. Troy Ramirez, Sunrise Mountain. 2. James Brown, Sunnyside. 3. Dante Oliverio, Horizon. 4. Andy Tran, Agua Fria. 126 - 1. Jesse Ybarra, Sunnyside. 2. Noah Wasserbeck, Campo Verde. 3. Hunter Whaley, Sunrise Mountain. 4. Luke Brical, Millennium. 132 - 1. Jaime Rivera, Sunnyside. 2. Markell Rivera, Ironwood. 3. Joseph Misitano, Campo Verde. 4. Daniel Conchaz, Millennium. 138 - 1. Chris Lopez, Marana Mtn. View. 2. Trent Wikel, Desert Mountain. 3. Damian Davies, Goldwater. 4. Tristan Dains, Willow Canyon. 145 - 1. Sebastian Robles, Sunnyside. 2. Jaden Berner, Willow Canyon, 3. Davee Figueroa, Apollo. 4. Benny Madrid, Desert Mountain. 152 - 1. Carlo Castagnaro, Cienega. 2. Junior Camarillo, Centennial. 3. Alex Young, Horizon. 4. Zachary Kondravy, Maricopa. 160 - 1. AJ Valle, Casteel. 2. Fernando Villascusa, Sunnyside. 3. Jesse Kovacs, Apollo. 4. Jordan Smith, Millennium. 170 - 1. Ty Ryan, Raymond Kellis. 2. Gabe Levy, Cienega. 3. Brayden Hasher, Cactus Shadows. 4. Allyn Tuey, Williams Field. 182 - 1. Jayden Fletcher, Campo Verde. 2. Jose Beltran, Ironwood Ridge. 3. Jeramiah Voliva, Apollo. 4. Sean Hardy, Willow Canyon. 195 - 1. Atticus Lee, Higley. 2. Jasiel Tapia, Independence. 3. Luca Moili, Ironwood Ridge. 4. Maximillian D'Elia, Paradise Valley.  220 - 1. Brock Locnikar, Notre Dame Prep. 2. Rudy Acedo, Marana Mtn. View. 3. Cailor Benson, Paradise Valley. 4. Abdeel Calva, Goldwater. 285 - 1. Jackson Solomon, Higley. 2. Harvey Gonzalez, Sunnyside. 3. Eduardo Reyes, Goldwater. 4. Hunter Taylor, Maricopa.

D2 factoids: The lone wrestler aiming at a third state title is Sunnyside's Ybarra. Ybarra won titles in 2017 (106), 2018 (113) and was runner-up last year at (126). Other returning champs are Raymond Kellis' Luke Pastoriza, who won at 106 competing for Sierra Linda; Sunnyside's Brown, who won at 113; Sunnyside's Rivera, who won at 120 and Raymond Kellis' Ty Ryan, who won at 170. Three wrestlers bring unbeaten records to the tournament - Ybarra (33-0 at 126); Higley's Atticus Lee (30-0 at 195) and Notre Dame Prep's Brock Locnikar (25-0 at 220).