West Sending 6 Wrestlers to Masters

West Torrance High School will send the largest contingent of South Bay wrestlers to the Southern Section Masters Meet at Fountain Valley High on Saturday, beginning at 9:30 a.m.

West qualified six wrestlers, North Torrance two and Morningside one.

The Masters Meet is the qualifying round for the state championship tournament. The top six in each weight division at the Masters will advance to the state meet March 2 and 3 at the University of the Pacific in Stockton.

The lone Morningside wrestler, Danny Katoa, may be one of the area’s best hopes for a state champion. And North’s Jason Roper and Richard Rose, both finalists at last week’s CIF 3-A meet, can’t be ignored.

Katoa, who won the 3-A championship at 191 pounds, will face Royal’s Jeremy Giancanelli in a first-round match.

West qualified 12 wrestlers for the 3-A meet, where it finished second to Victor Valley. The only weight division for which the Warriors didn’t have a qualifier was the one Katoa dominated.

Roper, at 119 pounds, faces a tough opponent in his first Masters match, Nogales’ Daniel Maes. Rose, at 126 pounds, will face Schurr’s Tim Yoshitake.

West is in a favorable position to make a run at the state championship. The Warriors recovered from a poor first day at the CIF meet to win 18 of 27 matches on the second day, including three “must-win” bouts, giving them momentum going in to the Masters.

West’s qualifiers are Steve Lee (105 pounds), David Ishii (112), Scott Herman (132), Demian Botero (145), Dan Chaney (175) and Josh Gormley (heavyweight).

Lee, the team’s only senior, placed second at the 3-A meet. He qualified for the Masters last year, too, but decided not to wrestle there because he didn’t think he would place.

West Coach Kent Wyatt said Lee is a reluctant participant in the Masters this year, but the other five qualifiers, all juniors, are eager to compete.

All five had to win their last matches at the CIF meet to advance to the Masters, and, with the exception of Gormley, they are wrestling well.

Ishii, in particular, is on a roll. He won three matches on superiors--beating each of his opponents by 15 points or more--on the final day of the CIF meet, including a 15-0 decision over Brea-Olinda’s Tim Nakamura to take fifth place.

Botero took third place in his division with a 9-2 decision over San Marcos’ Todd Cates.

And Herman also is coming on strong. After losing, 19-7, to Arroyo Grande’s Ralph Rea on the first day of the meet, he recovered on the second day with an 11-7 decision over Rea for fifth place.

Chaney also had to defeat an opponent to whom he had lost an early-round match. He lost to Valencia’s John Serrato, 9-2, then came back on the second day to defeat Serrato, 5-1, for third place.

Gormley is perhaps the only West wrestler who is struggling.

Seeded No. 1 at the 3-A meet, he lost to Walnut’s Jason Wall in the semifinals and then lost his next match in the consolation round.

Gormley had to settle with a less-than-inspiring 4-0 decision over Victor Valley’s Spike Newman for fifth place.