GILROY – Abalone diving, rodeo and wrestling – three activities
that aren’t usually grouped together, and three activities that
most might not include on a bucket list.
But for Gilroy High wrestlers Dominic and Blake Kastl, those
interests, among others, are what separates them from the rest
GILROY – Abalone diving, rodeo and wrestling – three activities that aren’t usually grouped together, and three activities that most might not include on a bucket list.
But for Gilroy High wrestlers Dominic and Blake Kastl, those interests, among others, are what separates them from the rest – not to mention the countless trophies, medals and championships the two brothers have racked up over the years wreaking havoc out on the mat.
“There is a season for it,” Blake said with a shy, yet in some ways proud, grin about the obscure hobby of hunting for abalone, a type of edible sea snail. “My dad has been doing it since before we were born. We go take two-hour dives. We bring them home and eat them. They are good.
“We used to be cowboys, too,” he adds with a laugh. “I broke a collar bone my eighth-grade year riding a steer.”
Those unique hobbies and myriad of accomplishments only scratch the surface of an intriguing bond built through wrestling but carried out beyond the humid, sweat-filled practice room.
Dominic, a senior, and Blake, a sophomore, transferred to GHS this year after their family relocated from Half Moon Bay. Already accomplished prep wrestlers – Dominic has three Central Coast Section championships and Blake a National High School Coaches Association National Championship – the impact the two have had on the perennially formidable Mustangs’ wrestling program is immeasurable. Oh, and they have a younger brother, Mario, a sixth-grader who attends and wrestles for South Valley.
“He’s probably going to be the best one out of the three of us,” Blake said. “He was exposed to better coaching and technique at a younger age.”
When the expenses of private school at St. Francis High in Mountain View began to pile up, Dominic said his parents made the decision to move to Gilroy, a choice that took him by surprise, but his familiarity with the community’s passion for wrestling kept him at ease and made the transfer to a new school all much easier to digest.
“It was sprung on us,” Dominic said. “I wasn’t sad or anything. It had to be done. I had been to tournaments with Jesse (Delgado) and Vince (Aboytes) and I knew they were good kids.”
There is of course a brotherly rivalry, both confess to wanting to be better or outdo each other. That sibling rivalry in the end, though, adds to the relationship rather than divides it. In victory or defeat each is there for reassurance or a figurative slap in the face as motivation to continue to improve.
“When I would go to tournaments and watch (Dominic), I would wear my singlet and want to wrestle,” the younger Blake said. “I always wanted to strive to be like him and be as good as him. Dom never wants to lose to his little brother or have me accomplish something he hasn’t. It’s better when we both win.”
Even still, even with the desire to be better, it is hard to imagine what motivates an individual to continually take the punishment the sport is eager to dish out day in and day out.
“It’s just wanting to get my hand raised, wanting to be the best and go to college,” Blake said.
The list of injuries an athlete could suffer even before the collegiate ranks are staggering and even painful to read; bruises, cuts, dislocations, surgeries and cauliflower ear, to name a few. Both have had knee surgeries in the past year and a half, with Blake’s keeping him out of action for the first month-plus this season and Dominic’s threatening his chances of a three-peat at the CCS championships last season.
“Last year at Cupertino, I went to shoot in and my knee locked up,” Dominic said, moving his body to add a visual as he recalled his injury. “The guy got me on my butt. I tried to get up but the knee just gave out. I had to have surgery on it. Funny enough I was wrestling a Gilroy guy.”
Despite the setback, Dominic went on to capture his third straight CCS title.
“My family is a never-quit kind of family,” Dominic said. “During the season you have practice and you have to cut weight. It starts to grind on you. But when you come out at a tournament and you have your friends and family there and you win, that’s what it’s all about.”
The sacrifices made to the sport aren’t always understandable to everyone. But one no-no that most can relate to is fast food. With all the restrictions on diet to ensure that they can keep at their wrestling weights, there is no fast food allowed.
“You get used to it, it’s not a big deal,” Blake said, consenting that after the season he will probably indulge in a large cookies-and-cream milkshake.
With the Central Coast Section championships fast approaching, the Kastl’s are beginning to find their groove. Both have back-to-back tournament victories in the last two weeks at the Mid-Cal Invitational and the Overfelt Classic.
“Everything we do is to prepare us for the state meet,” Dominic said.
Each has aspirations of not just qualifying or placing, but to finish first at the state tournament held the first weekend in March in Bakersfield.
Dominic has already signed on to wrestle at CSU San Luis Obispo, joining fellow senior Jesse Delgado. Blake, who hasn’t given a lot of thought to college yet, will be a senior when Mario steps onto the mat as a Mustang.
For now, the state meet is the No. 1 priority.
