Gilroy’s Nic Aguilar was plenty upset with his runner-up finish at the state tournament last March in Fargo, ND.
He wasn’t going to be disappointed again.
Since the CIF-State Tournament in Gilroy, Aguilar has come away with a Sophomore National Wrestling title and a prestigious National Freestyle Championship in Fargo wrestling for California July 23.
Aguilar is a three-time National Champion with the win, not counting the Sophomore title.
“It’s pretty hard coming back, especially in preparation for tournament,” Aguilar said. “It’s all a mental game coming back after winning.”
Aguilar was two years removed from his first two titles at Fargo.
He also went up in weight, wrestling at 113 pounds from his 106 that he wrestled the past two years.
“Coming back after winning in Fargo two years ago, I did have target on back,” Aguilar said. “But I’m wresting at 113 and I’m not ranked, so every match underdog match.”
Aguilar said he made the switch partly because he didn’t want to kill himself trying to make weight for 106 and partly because he wanted to get to a weight where colleges might take stronger notice of him.
Aguilar said he is naturally 120 pounds, so it was easier to get down to 113 than to go all the way to 106.
But that led to some challenges as he was going up against stronger athletes who were more accustomed to the 113-pound spot.
The tournament didn’t start well for Aguilar, who opened up his time in Fargo wrestling in the Roman-Grecco Tournament. He finished out of the medal slot, going 3-2 for the tourney.
But he came back with a vengeance.
“I didn’t want to get beat up about that,” Aguilar said. “I knew I had to get back on the horse and try win the freestyle tournament.”
Aguilar built up to the finals, getting to a slow start before rocketing to the finals where he faced off against the No. 4 seeded wrestler.
After the first round, he found himself down 4-2 and he said he had to turn up his intensity so he could get the win.
He worked to get points in every position and eventually came away with a 12-7 win to stun his opponent.
Aguilar is now gearing up to get as strong as he can ahead of the winter wrestling season.
He said he is just going to go for it in the gym and see where he lands after that, whether that is at 113 or 120 pounds.
“I’m definitely looking for redemption,” he said.
