Verity Bleakley
2/25/25
It’s been an exciting few weeks for our wrestling team! On Thursday, January 30th, our wrestling team held their senior night. Since it was their only home dual meet of the season, the Dawg House was packed with bulldawg pride! There was a great turnout from the community to support our amazing wrestling team. This year’s seniors were Gabriel Vargas, Hannah Gonzales, Luis Cetina, Tyler Henshaw, Canon Frisch, Audie O’Neal, Shelby Jordison, Katie Beals, and Jacob Rice. This dual meet was against Valley Center, another team in the Valley League. Some of the senior’s outcomes of the day was:
Gabriel Vargas: win by pin
Hannah Gonzalnes: win by pin
Luis Cetina: win by forfeit
Canon Frisch: win by pin
Audie O’Neil: win by pin
All three of our wrestling teams; Boys Varsity, Boys JV, and Girls Varsity, won against Valley Center’s teams. After a fun and successful night filled with high energy, some of the seniors were looking back on their performances and experiences with the team and with wrestling as a whole. Shelby Jordison expressed that her favorite thing about the team was the comradery everyone has and the support they all give each other. This comradery was evidently shown when Hannah Gonzales mentioned a fun memory of singing Christmas carols with the team while doing conditioning and wall sits to help the time pass. Gabe Vargas shared his favorite memory that he had from his time wrestling here at RHS, was walking out of the building after winning CIF with the team. It is clear that part of our wrestling team's success is the community that is built from the friendships that are made on the mats. Their ability to lift one another’s spirits is unmatched and is an amazing support system that really contributes to their success.
A week later, the Girl’s Varsity wrestling team had an outstanding performance in the CIF Division III championship on February 8th, 2025. These girls worked their hardest and for the first time in Ramona High history, they placed 1ST as a team with 5 INDIVIDUAL CIF CHAMPS! Hannah Gonzales, Giuliana Pekelder, Savannah Diaz, Robin Moore, and Tairen Lee placed 1st in their respective weight classes of all of CIF Division III. Apart from our champions, we had 5 other girls place, therefore having 10 girls in total qualifying for Masters. Kaitlyn Peck - 2nd place, Eden McNett - 2nd place, Katie Beals - 3rd place, Fatima Soto - 4th place, and Sierra Bergen - 5th place.
The week after, on February 15th, the Boy’s Varsity team also competed in the CIF Division III championship, and since our boys were Valley League champs, it was held in our very own home gym! They wrestled their hearts out and managed to place 5th out of 30 teams. We had 8 boys qualify for masters along with a CIF Champion, Gabe Vargas! The other 7 boys were: Liam Gonzalez - 2nd place, Logan Barrera - 3rd place, Liam Cavaness - 3rd place, Braden Jordison - 4th place, Cannon Frisch - 5th place, and Luis Cetina and Audie O’Neal as the alternates for masters, both placing 7th. It was great to see our boys showing their talents on the mats in our very own Dawghouse.
Then, the next weekend both the boys and the girls that qualified competed in the Masters tournament at Christian High School in El Cajon. This 2-day tournament from 2/21-2/22 included every single team in San Diego County that qualified for Masters, no matter the division. Out of a whopping 79 teams, Ramona placed 14th! After many superb performances from everyone, we had 2 girls and 2 boys place: Giuliana Pekelder - 2nd place, Tairen Lee - 3rd place, Liam Gonzalez - 6th place, and Gabe Vargas - 6th place. Congratulations to Giuliana and Tairen for qualifying for state and we wish them all the best next weekend at state!
To close out the season, we asked some of the seniors to share their advice to any up and coming wrestlers looking for success. Hannah Gonzales shared “Just put in the work and keep going no matter what, and when it gets challenging is when you should push forward.” Gabe Vargas shared a reminder that not only should you work hard, but you should always remember to have fun. Canon Frisch went straight to the point and said “Try your best, and don’t get pinned.” Shelby Jordison advises to not be afraid to shoot your shot. If you shoot on your opponent, always follow through with it. Once again, we send our wrestling program a huge congratulations for having an amazing season and making Ramona High history! We are so proud to call this wrestling team our own and can’t wait to see what the future holds. Go dawgs!
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