Aztecs grapple with AIA regs, drop title hopes

New AIA state-tournament regulations were not kind to an Aztec wrestling team hoping to defend its two-time state championship.

After a 21-1 regular season record, the Aztecs placed fifth in sectionals behind Dobson, Sunnyside, Chandler and Highland and only qualified seven wrestlers for the 5A Division I state tournament held Feb. 10-11 in Prescott Valley.

“Due to the reductions made by the AIA, the sectional and state team championship was determined by the individual tournament,” said coach Jimmy Martinez. “This year we did not have as many who were top 3 level wrestlers.”

Qualifying for state at sectionals was Glenn Farina (112) third place, Justin Butler (130) sixth, Ethan Tursini (140) third, Jason Landrum (145) fifth, Pablo DeLeon (175) fifth, Simon Allen (215) first, and CJ Anderson (285) third. Davey Waddell (162) also placed sixth but was not selected as a wild card for the state tournament.

Although the Aztecs finished seventh at the tournament, coach Martinez was pleased with his wrestlers’ results especially DeLeon.

“The highlight of the tournament was when Pablo upset the number-one seed, Tom Devito of Sandra Day O’Connor, to reach the semi-finals,” said Martinez. “He wrestled a great strategic match to keep the match close in regulation, and won in triple overtime.”

Senior Allen entered the state tournament without a loss all season but an injury in the championship match likely prevented him from a 46-0 record and a championship medal.

“The low point of the tournament was seeing Simon injure his knee at about the 1:20 point of the finals match,” said Martinez.

“The injury prevented him from putting much weight on the knee and limited both his offense and defense. Simon had a 3-0 lead but could not maintain his control of the match. He gave a valiant effort in spite of the pain, but fell short of his goal to win a state championship.”

Allen, taking second place, finished his senior season at 45-1, the best record on Corona’s team. Senior DeLeon (171), along with junior Steven Rodriguez (285), in their first year of varsity wrestling, made significant improvements and won important matches for the team during the season, according to Martinez.

With five freshmen and one sophomore in his starting lineup this season, Martinez is looking forward next season.

Returning state place finishers, freshman Farina took 6th at state, junior Butler 5th, and junior Landrum 5th are expected to continue their improvement and have good records next year according to Martinez.

“I’m also expecting freshman Tursini to be a top performer and Rodriguez, who had a really good season this year to come back and be on our tournament team his senior year,” said Martinez. “One freshman, Dustin Nelson, had some varsity wins early in the year and we believe he can step into the lineup and have a great deal of success. I also expect Zack and Kort Turner, Zach Walton, Colton Winstead and Jay Tucker to come back as solid performers.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

“Finishing seventh at state in a rebuilding year makes the outlook bright for the 2011-12 season,” said Martinez. “I am excited for next year as I believe that Corona del Sol will have a team capable of making a run for another State Championship!”

Boys Basketball

The Aztecs had their last two games scheduled last week—at Mesquite, a Central region foe they lost to earlier in the season by 3 points late in the game, and a non-region game against Desert Vista, an old arch rival and a team ranked two up from Corona in power rankings at No. 7.

Corona lost valuable power points due to two unfortunate losses the first week of February against Betty Fairfax, 51-46, and Basha, 66-57.

“We had a 13 point lead against Fairfax in the second half that we gave up after getting complacent and losing our energy,” said head coach Sam Duane Jr. “Fairfax got the momentum and we couldn’t get back on track. We have to learn how to put teams away.”

“Against Basha, we did not play our best, and Basha played extremely well. Bottom line, they outplayed us.”

The Aztecs did bounce back the following week with two significant wins, playing well against Dobson, winning 77-63, and Highland 64-48. They received quality minutes from starters Avery Moss and Nick Siefker plus help off the bench, according to Duane.

“Andrus Peat has really played well and he is a key factor off our bench,” said Duane, “as well as Rashidi Kabamba, Braden Tenneyson and Bryan Siefker.”

As it stands, without knowing the results of their games against Mesquite and Desert Vista, Corona, currently No. 9, would start the state tournament playing against No. 8 Mesa Mountain View, a team they would like to avoid in the first round.

The state tournament starts at 7 p.m. Feb. 23 on the higher seed’s home court.

 Corona Track and Field

Hoping to enhance and further develop Corona’s track and field tradition of dedication and excellence, Aztec track coaches will continue to stress the same philosophy they have been trying to establish as the culture and mantra of the team the last two seasons.

“We will be firm in our dedication to emphasize the three points of our track philosophy: commitment, character and championship,” said head coach Tim Kelly. “The kids have shown a commitment to these ideas and we are doing a better job of developing leaders.”

Returning more than 125 athletes from last season, the team continues to grow.

“We had a large number of kids participate in the preseason camp, and almost all of our kids were out the first day of practice,” said Kelly. “We have a solid core group returning ready to lead the young freshman and sophomores on how to work hard each and every day at practice and to provide team and event leadership.”

Needing initial leadership qualities early in the season, Kelly and his assistant coaches will be looking for returning athletes Lakevia Stormer, Sarah Williams, Matt Hayhurst, Jared Hirschl, Jacob Whitney, Dylan Huch, Megan Benson, Tadessa Smith, Dillan Baker, Cody Jackson, Patrick Buck, Carli Giese, Alyssa Woelful, William Lee, James Contes,  Leanne Willettes, Wyatt Larson, Mike Seall, Nick Siefker, Nicholas Woods, Daniel Wrapp, Lauren Milovich and Hallie Swenson to help them with the younger athletes.

The Aztecs have the most experience in their hurdles and distance program, coached mainly by Pat Smith and, new to the program, Rob Jackson, but will need to rely on the younger athletes in the sprints, throws and jumps according to Kelley.

Also new is Dan Jackson, the long- and triple-jump coach, and Stephen Harper, who will coach high jump. Returning are Scott Sharpe, throwing coach; Jon Whaley, pole vault; and Cynthia Washington, sprints.

This season the new AIA rules go into effect. No regions will exist making it more difficult to qualify for the state meet. Regardless, Kelly still expects CdS’ main competition to come from Mountain Point, Desert Vista, Mountain View, Chandler and Brophy.

The Aztecs will start the season off honoring a former Corona track and field athlete by participating, as a team, in the Susan Mortensen Turley Foundation Cancer Run Feb. 19 at Kiwanis Park.

Corona’s Female Athlete of the Year Award is named after Turley. Corona will be providing t-shirts and donating to the foundation as a community service project.

In addition, a CdS track and field booster club has been founded to help support the team. The club’s first fundraiser is the AzTrack Health and Fitness Expo, to be held Saturday, Feb. 26 alongside the team’s annual car wash.

The event will take place from 8-1 at Corona’s Rural Road parking lot. Several health and fitness-related organizations will be onsite to provide information related to health and fitness, including Fast Athlete, GNC, Great Harvest Bread Company, Sole Sports, Jamba Juice, Pro Edge and Ironcare.