Palm Desert boys dominate DEL wrestling meet, now eye CIF and state championships
If Palm Desert High School intends to stake its claim as the best high school wrestling program in the state next month, Saturday was a notable first step.
Palm Desert looked every bit the part of a juggernaut at the Desert Empire League finals at Palm Desert High. The Aztecs, with a boys’ program ranked fourth in the state, won 12 league titles, and added a second-place finish in 14 weight classes.
On the girls’ side, La Quinta won five titles to lead a more balanced girls’ division. Palm Desert finished second, winning four divisions.
But Saturday was really about the Palm Desert boys. Would they continue to dominate or would they succumb to the pressure of being the best in the valley? The answer was apparent from the start of the meet.
Beau Mantanona, the top-ranked wrestler in the state at 138 pounds, moved to 23-0 with a 22-second finals victory over Francisco Munguia of La Quinta. Mantanona, a junior, moved quickly through the bracket with two wins — each in fewer than 1:26 — on the day following a first-round bye.
“I think this was a good performance,” Mantanona said. “This is the first step toward what we want to do as a team.”
Junior Eric Ramirez, Ethan Guillermo and Erik McCown and sophomore David Alonso also made quick work of their opponents. Ramirez won the 106-pound division, finishing each of his two matches in under a minute. Alonso won each of his 145-pound matches in under a minute, as did McCown in the 170-pound division. Guillermo won his semifinal match in 18 seconds and his finals match in 42 seconds.
Sophomore Brock Mantanona won the 126-pound division, Bronson Swan won the 182-pound division and Sunny Kling won the 195-pound division. Luke VanBuskirk won the 152-pound division and his older brother, Arizona State commit Caleb VanBuskirk, won the 220-pound division.
The two boys’ winners who were not from Palm Desert were Sir Jackson Mason of Shadow Hills, who won the 160-pound division, and Rancho Mirage’s Kyle Tan in the 120-pound division.
More: Arena construction on schedule despite supply chain and commercial construction delays
More: Indio water polo star Mia Puga is The Desert Sun's Athlete of the Week
“I had a feeling I was going to come out on top,” said Tan, who is 13-5 on the season. “To win my division when Palm Desert guys are winning almost everything else is pretty cool.”
For the girls, La Quinta’s Mariah Gonzalez won the 106-pound division, Bella Delgado won at 111 pounds, Sereena Baca won at 116, Sydney Endres won at 121 and Mary Jane Barton won at 189. The Blackhawks had a top-three finisher in nine divisions.
Wrestlers will now prepare for the Southern Section championships in two weeks. The top five in each division will then advance to the Masters event, featuring the top wrestlers in Southern California, and the top nine from Masters will head to state.
Palm Desert believes it could send as many as nine or 10 wrestlers to state, provided everything goes as smooth from here as it did Saturday.
“We did well today,” Caleb VanBuskirk said. “We have a chance to do something special as a team and this is how we wanted to get started.”
Boys’ champions by division
106: Eric Ramirez, Jr., Palm Desert
113: Ethan Guillermo, Palm Desert
120: Kyle Tan, Rancho Mirage
126: Brock Mantanona, Palm Desert
132: Dylan Guillermo, Palm Desert
138: Beau Mantanona, Palm Desert
145: David Alonso, Palm Desert
152: Luke VanBuskirk, Palm Desert
160: Sir Jackson Mason, Shadow Hills
170: Erik McCown, Palm Desert
182: Bronson Swan, Palm Desert
195: Sunny Kling, Palm Desert
220: Caleb VanBuskirk, Palm Desert
285: Daniel Herrera, Palm Desert
Girls’ champions by division
101: Lily Garcia, Palm Springs
106: Mariah Gonzalez, La Quinta
111: Bella Delgado, La Quinta
116: Sereena Baca, La Quinta
121: Sydney Endres, La Quinta
126: Allison Lane, Shadow Hills
131: Teagan Nguyen, Palm Desert
137: Chloe Overgaag, Palm Desert
143: Elissa Jimenez, Xavier Prep
150: Angela Milojkone, Palm Desert
160: Jasimiel Monge, Palm Springs
170: Citlali Contreras, Palm Desert
189: Mary Jane Barton, La Quinta
235: Hazel Magby, Shadow Hills
Andrew John covers sports for The Desert Sun and the USA Today Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com and find him on Twitter at @Andrew_L_John.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Desert boys dominate DEL wrestling meet, now eye CIF and state
