Coby Merrill wrestled for only 1 minute and 59 seconds Friday night at Sonora High School in La Habra, but that was enough time for the North High School senior heavyweight to capture the third CIF Southern Section Master Meet championship of his career.
Merrill, the defending state champion at 285 pounds, advanced to the Blue Bracket championship match after recording victories by pinfall in 35, 48 and 36 seconds. The championship was Merrill’s after Moorpark’s Noah Huss withdrew via a medical forfeit.
Merrill’s career record at the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet is 12-0, and only one those matches reached the 1-minute mark, and it was exactly 1 minute. Merrill will begin his quest for a second state title Thursday at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield.
This is the fourth season the Masters Meet has used a newer format. Instead of a two-day event with one wrestler being crowned as the individual champion in every weight, the section has a one-day meet with two brackets and two champions in each class.
Five other Inland boys wrestlers brought home their first Masters Meet championship.
Lakeside’s Jesus Guzman was the No. 2-seeded wrestler in the 165-pound Gold Division bracket, but he captured the title with a 7-0 decision over top-seeded Cross Rodriguez of Santa Ana Calvary Chapel. Guzman is the second Lakeside boys wrestler to win a Masters Meet championship, joining Ryan Lobato (2023, 126 pounds).
Temecula Valley’s Ashton Lassig was the No. 1-seeded wrestler in the 175-pound Gold Division bracket and pinned all four of his opponents. Lassig won his first Masters Meet championship when he pinned Peninsula’s Efosa Osayande in the second period. Lassig is the 16th wrestler in program history to win a Master Meet title and first since Malikhi Espiriu (2023, 132 pounds)
Chaparral’s Jaxon Smith exacted some revenge when he pulled out a 3-2 decision over Moreno Valley’s Kaden Cryer to capture the 215-pound Gold Division championship. Cryer pinned Smith on Feb. 14 to win the Inland Division’s 215-pound championship. Smith is the second Chaparral boys wrestler to win a Masters Meet title, joining Chris Drouin (2005-06, 135 pounds).
Michael Baeza of San Dimas made its a clean sweep for the area at 215 pounds, capturing the Blue Division title when he pinned St. John Bosco’s Kaden Curry in the opening seconds of the third period. Baeza is the fourth San Dimas boys wrestler to claim a Masters Meet championship and first since David Gonzalez (2014, 106 pounds).
Centennial’s Angel Rodriguez was the other Masters Meet heavyweight championship this season. He won the Gold Division title with a 7-2 decision over Victor Valley’s Zander West. Rodriguez is the ninth boys wrestler in program history to win a Master Meet title and first since David VanWeems won back-to-back 220-pound championships in 2014 and 2015.
Ten wrestlers in each of the 14 weight classes (the top five in each bracket) secured a spot for the state championship meet in Bakersfield, and 38 wrestlers representing 22 Inland schools were among the 140 wrestlers who qualified Friday.
Centennial leads the way among Inland programs with five qualifiers, and the Huskies finished fifth in the team standings with 98.5 points. Temecula Valley finished fourth in the standings with 109 points and has four state qualifiers. Chaparral also qualified four wrestlers for the state meet and placed seventh with 70.5 points. Chino tied for 10th with 56.5 points and had three qualifiers.
In addition to Cryer, seven other Inland wrestlers finished as the runner-up in their respective brackets: Lakeside’s Madrid Ladines (106, Blue), Chino’s Zachary Samano (120, Blue), Redlands East Valley’s Marco Costa (132, Blue), Montclair’s Jonah Guerra (138, Gold), Centennial’s Rocco Godinez (144, Blue), Temecula Valley’s Demitri Clark (190, Blue), Norco’s Jaxen Cooke (190, Blue).
Here is a list of the Inland boys wrestlers who qualified for this year’s CIF State meet, with their bracket finishes in parenthesis.
106
Madrid Ladines, Lakeside (Blue, 2)
Julian Bigueur, Chaparral (Blue, 3)
Trevor Lambert. Temecula Valley (Gold, 5)
113
Nathan Solorio, Damien (Gold, 3)
120
Zachary Samano, Chino (Blue, 2)
126
Jesse Quiroz, Roosevelt (Blue, 4)
132
Marco Costa, Redlands East Valley (Blue, 2)
Jonathan Madera, Chino (Gold, 3)
Anthony Saldana, Paloma Valley (Gold, 4)
138
Jonah Guerra, Montclair (Gold, 2)
Cameron James, Centennial (Gold, 5)
144
Rocco Godinez, Centennial (Blue, 2)
Jacob Fernandez, Bonita (Blue, 3)
Nathan Cauwel, Chino (Blue, 4)
150
Damen Volmer, Temecula Valley (Blue, 4)
Jesse Jimenez, Centennial (Blue, 5)
157
Peter Brown, Canyon Springs (Gold, 3)
165
Jesus Guzman, Lakeside (Gold, 1)
Luc Sorenson, Yucaipa (Gold, 3)
Leon Murphy, Santiago (Blue, 4)
Ehren Thompson, Chaparral (Gold, 5)
175
Ashton Lassig, Temecula Valley (Gold, 1)
Keshaun White, Centennial (Blue, 4)
190
Demitri Clark, Temecula Valley (Blue, 2)
Jaxen Cooke, Norco (Gold, 2)
Michael Martinez, Carter (Gold. 3)
Dylan Natceli, Chaparral (Blue, 3)
Logan Ulmer, Santiago (Blue, 5)
215
Michael Baeza, San Dimas (Blue, 1)
Jaxon Smith, Chaparral (Gold, 1)
Kaden Cryer, Moreno Valley (Gold, 2)
Matthew Casas, Beaumont (Gold, 3)
Levi Means, Yucaipa (Blue, 4)
285
Coby Merrill, North (Blue, 1)
Angel Rodriguez, Centennial (Gold, 1)
Carlos Sutton, Etiwanda (Gold, 3)
Andrew DeLaTorre, Moreno Valley (Blue, 4)
Brayden Kilgore, Rancho Cucamonga (Gold, 4)
