We may not have the biggest or fastest high school athletes in the Imperial Valley, but no one ever doubted the toughness of Valley kids.
That is evidenced by the success of Imperial Valley high school wrestling programs on a yearly basis, and it is particularly evident this year, as seven local wrestlers qualified for the state high school wrestling tournament in Bakersfield on Friday and Saturday.
In recent years all Valley high school wrestling programs have had great success. Yes, the most consistently prominent program has been the regional powerhouse at Brawley Union High, but Calexico, Central Union, Southwest, Imperial and Holtville also have had top-flight wrestling teams and individuals in recent years.
It has not exactly been a rare occurrence for Imperial Valley wrestlers to win state championships. That such happens quite regularly is pretty incredible, considering that Imperial County represents only a tiny portion of California’s population.
It takes great coaching and many tireless, tough athletes to have a successful wrestling program, and local programs have just those kinds of coaches and wrestlers. The coaches must be hard taskmasters but motivational leaders at the same time. The wrestlers have to be disciplined about training, and in the cases of most weight classes, disciplined about eating, which is no easy task for most teenage boys.
On top of that, wrestlers must be physically and mentally hard. There may be no consistently pain-inducing sport than wrestling, certainly not at the high school level.
Those local wrestlers qualifying for the state meet this year are Vincent Elizalde, Isaac Moreno and Lonzie Osuna of Brawley, brothers Micah and Antonio Perez of Central, and Jose Sandoval and Lance Angulo of Holtville. (Antonio Perez will not be competing in the state tourney because of an injured ankle.)
It will be an arduous task for any of those young men to bring home a state title, but we would be far from surprised if at least one does just that.
THE ISSUE:
High school wrestling
WE SAY:
Another state title … or two?
WHAT DO YOU SAY?
Send us your thoughts on this topic to www.ivpressonline.com/letterstotheeditor
To comment on this story click here to be directed to Facebook.
