GHS wrestling team readies for Reno
Hunter Collins was at last year’s Reno Tournament of Champions … watching from the stands.
Collins, Gilroy High’s freshman wrestling phenom, was just an eighth grader at the time, but he went to soak up the atmosphere.
And as he watched his future teammates compete, he wanted more than anything to be able to join them on the mat.
“It was tough, because I really wanted to be in there,” Collins said. “I like wrestling at big tournaments. I’ve always wanted to wrestle at Reno.”
Starting Monday, Collins will get his wish, along with seven other Mustang grapplers. They’ll get their chance to shine in what is billed as the “Toughest Tournament in the USA.”
The event actually starts Sunday, when wrestlers from 16 of the top college programs in the country are pitted against one another. Then, for the next two days, the stage is set for grapplers from 84 of the top high school programs in the country.
For back-to-back CCS champ Gilroy, this marks the second straight trip to a tournament that prides itself on an ultra-strict invite policy. Teams come to the Reno Livestock Event Center from all over the United States, including from wrestling-crazy areas like Oklahoma and eastern Pennsylvania.
If they don’t do well at the tournament one year, they don’t get invited back the next. Period.
“They definitely have a criteria,” GHS head coach Armando Gonzales said. “It’s an honor to be invited.”
Last December, Gilroy sent 11 wrestlers and finished in the middle of the pack at 38th. Placed in brutal bracket after brutal bracket, only three Mustangs survived to see the second day and only two placed.
“I brought too many last year,” Gonzalez said. “It didn’t do them any good at that level. This is truly a national tournament.”
Sophomore Nicolo Naranjo, who finished sixth in the 103-pound weight class, is the only returning Mustang who placed last year.
“At first I was a little nervous with all the people,” he said, “but after the first match, you just learn how to get used to it.”
Naranjo, the state’s second-ranked 103-pounder, said his goal this tournament is to get to the finals.
He’ll be joined in Reno by five returnees – Joseph Serrano, Adin Dueñas, Armando Gonzalez and Austin Gubrud – and three teammates new to the experience – Rudy Maldonaldo, Andres Barragan and Collins.
Coach Gonzalez said he’s hoping for three medals, “and four would be great.”
“Reno is really not a great indicator, though, because it’s one of the toughest tournaments in the country,” he said. “Our goal is to be top 5 in state and CCS champs. That’s what we’re gunning for.”
Of course, many of the wrestlers who will play a big part in attaining those goals won’t be traveling to Nevada this weekend. They will, however, be competing at the varsity James Lick Invitational in San Jose.
And even though GHS will be missing eight of its top wrestlers, Gonzalez’s expectations are no less ambitious for the deepest team in the section.
“Let me tell you something … the team we’re sending to James Lick,” Gonzalez said, “I fully expect them to finish in the top 3 – if not win it all.”
Reno Tournament of Champions
103 – Nicolo Naranjo
119 – Rudy Maldonaldo
125 – Joseph Serrano
130 – Adin Dueñas
135 – Armando Gonzalez
140 – Austin Gubrud
160 – Hunter Collins
189 – Andres Barragan
James Lick Tournament
112 – Tim Ibanez
119 – Travis Sakamoto
125 – Chris Krough
130 – Ethan Ogle
135 – Ismael Gutierrez
140 – Brian Smith
145 – Miles Amodeo
152 – Mike Ayers
160 – Luis Albarran
171 – Joseph Delgado
189 – Seth Whitney
215 – Daniel Gamez
HW – Luis Chavez
