Angelo Posada stood in the entry way to the floor of Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield, watching as Poway scored point after point en route to capturing the boys state wrestling title.
Other competitors sat in the waiting room, focusing on what they were going to do.
Posada already knew, so watching his teammates score a record high point total while winning their fourth state crown, the first in 15 years, was motivation at the highest level.
Once his 175-pound weight class was announced, the 17-year-old junior went out and defeated Turlock’s Mason Ontiveros, 5-1, wrapping up a perfect 31-0 season with 23 pins.
“I scored a two-point takedown early and was able to dictate the match,” said Posada, who with his 3.9 GPA has already committed to attending Stanford University. “In every match this year, I’ve tried to score in the first 30 seconds and then score as many points as I can.
“It was so awesome for the program to get the state title. I was thinking team before my match and although it wasn’t official, I kind of knew we’d already won.”
Posada placed fourth as a freshman, second last year and was the No. 1 seed this time. He never trailed all season and in his closest match, a 4-3 victory, he said the outcome was never in doubt because he led 4-1 with just a few seconds remaining.
It wasn’t quite as easy for the Titans as a team, but almost.
After winning all 10 second-day championship matches and three of the four consolations, Poway had turned a deficit into a 20-point lead heading into the final day’s semifinals.
The Titans, who also had Elias Navida (132) and Robert Platt (215) climb to the top of the victory stand after advancing seven wrestlers into finals, scored 290.5 points to win by 35.5 points over seven-time defending champion Clovis Buchanan, breaking the tournament record of 276.5 points by Clovis High in 2015.
“All 14 guys scored points,” said head coach John Meyers, who won his first title after being an assistant to Wayne Branstetter on two previous title teams.
“On the second day, when we lost just one match, advancing 13 wrestlers, they were feeding off each other, encouraging each other.
“I heard a lot of long-time coaches saying this is the best team they have ever seen. I’m no historian, but this is the best team I’ve ever seen.”
Meyers pointed out that Navida was voted the Champion of Champions by the other 13 gold medalists.
“Elias typified this team,” Meyers said. “He didn’t place last year at state and dedicated himself to becoming a champion. That was still a huge surprise him winning like he did.”
Navida trailed 4-2 with one second remaining when he scored a takedown to force overtime against Jesse Grajeda of Lakewood St. John Bosco. In the extra period he scored two more points for the 6-4 win.
“I feel I proved something to all the doubters,” Navida said.
Platt, who won at 190 pounds a year ago at Brawley before transferring, scored an escape in overtime to hand J.W. North’s Coby Merrill his only loss of the season, 2-1. He finished the season 22-1 before heading off to Columbia University.
It wasn’t just the boys who walked away with lots of hardware.
With Alejandra Valdiviezo needing just 1:49 in the first period to pin Oakland Tech’s Shayna Ward at 120 pounds leading the way, Poway’s five-girl team placed third overall, the first top-10 finish ever for the Titans.
Valdiviezo won the state championship.
“I wanted to dominate,” said Valdiviezo, a senior who is certain to attract the kind of college offers she hoped a victory would bring while posting a 30-2 record. “Winning this title has been in my dreams every night and I don’t ever want to cheat myself.”
Meyers called the girls’ trophy-winning performance “incredible.”
“We’re slowly building the girls program,” he said, “and we have some good young wrestlers coming up.”
Boys wrestling
CIF State Championships
Team:1. Poway 290,5, 2. Buchanan 255, 3. Gilroy 207, 4. St. John Bosco 186, 5. Clovis 144; Others: 8. Granite Hills 100.5, 40. Rancho Bernardo 40, 63. Brawley 12, 65. Carlsbad 11, 68. La Costa Canyon 10.5.
Individuals:
Finals
106 – Aslikyan (Birmingham) dec Ar. Kikiniou (Pow) 6-3; 113 – Zinkin (Buchanan) dec Sierra (Pow) 2-1 UTB; 120 – Ramirez (Walnut) dec Carillo (St. John Bosco) 4-1;126 – Zinken (Clovis) dec Lopez (Clovis West) 3-0;132 – Navida (Pow) dec Grajeda (St. John Bosco) 6-4; 138 – Zepeda (Gilroy) dec Kelly (Pow) 6-2; 144 – Mirabel (Gilroy) dec Toscano 2-1; 150 – Mantanona (Palm Desert) dec Root (Pow) 5-4; 157 – Cholakyan (St. John Bosco) dec Barbosa (Palm Desert) 3-2 TB2;165 – Guffey (GH) dec Antonio (St. John Bosco) 3-0; 175 – Posada (Pow) dec Ontiveros (Pitman) 5-1; 190 – Kling (Canyon Springs) MD Borelli (Los Banos) 11-2;215 – Platt (Pow) dec Merrill (JW North) 2-1 TB2; 285 – Merrill (Gilroy) dec. Sahakian (St. John Bosco) 3-2.
Third place
113 – Cline (GH) dec Sidhu (Del Oro) 4-2;144 – Carini (Pow) dec Del Bosque (Clovis North) 5-4; 285 – Farha (Pow) dec Harrington (Buchanan) 3-1 SV.
Fifth Place
120 – Rodriguez (Los Gatos) dec Jones (Pow) 3-2;126 – Townson (Pow) def. Garcia (Walnut) FF; 165 – Clink (Chico) dec Al. Kikiniou (Pow) 5-1.
