GILROY – It wasn’t the usual start to the season for Gilroy
High’s wrestling team.
A dual meet to open up the year, a Tri County Athletic League
match no less, awaited the Mustangs one day before they hopped an
early morning flight to Ohio for the Iron Man Tournament.
GILROY – It wasn’t the usual start to the season for Gilroy High’s wrestling team.
A dual meet to open up the year, a Tri County Athletic League match no less, awaited the Mustangs one day before they hopped an early morning flight to Ohio for the Iron Man Tournament.
“Usually we don’t have a dual meet until after Christmas,” said head coach Greg Varela, who took over the program this year. “They are ready to go, though”
Despite the scheduling curveball, it was business as usual for the seven-time defending Central Coast Section champions as the Mustangs defeated North Salinas 51-30 on Wednesday night in Gilroy.
The victory tightened the Mustangs’ grip on a seven-year streak of flawless regular season TCAL dual- meet
performances.
Without five of the team’s varsity staples in the lineup, including brothers, senior Dominic Kastl and sophomore brother Blake Kastl, and Rodney Balajadia, who is ranked No. 2 in the CCS at 119 pounds, according to thecaliforniawrestler.com, Varela utilized the resources of a solid junior varsity squad to fill out the empty spots.
“I’m really excited that we got to see some of the JV guys wrestle matches so early,” Varela said. “They put in just as much time as the varsity.”
Mike Lucero got things rolling for the Mustangs in the first match of the night. Although he had to contend with losing a contact lens and a cut on the bridge of his nose and under his eye, along with holding off his opponent, he was able to come away with a win by decision 4-0 in the 145-pound match.
Adam Rosso, Vince Aboytes and Andrew Toste each earned victories by fall.
Senior Luis Barragan, the CCS top-ranked 285-pounder to begin the season, needed only 58 seconds to defeat Chris Flores by fall, using two takedowns that seemed to disorient Flores.
“We did good as a team for our first dual meet,” Barragan said. “We all came through when we needed to.”
Reigning state champion in his weight class, Jesse Delgado, had is 2009-10 home debut put on hold as he was awarded a win due to forfeit.
“Every year people ask me if I am nervous about winning state each year, but it is the same each year, I don’t want to lose,” Delgado said.
Delgado hits the mat at this weekend’s Iron Man Tournament as the No. 3-seed in the 125-pound division.
“It is the toughest tournament in the country,” Delgado said. “It is always hard.”
Willie Fox, another participant in last year’s state meet, also had a short night, winning by forfeit. Both are currently ranked No. 1 in CCS. Gilroy, as a team, tops the list.
Even with all the accolades and recent success of the program, topics of state championships and such are rarely talked about among the wrestlers.
“We don’t mention titles at all,” Varela said. “Our approach is the same for every meet.”
