Two local wrestling teams have grappled with success to date this winter.
At La Jolla High, head coach Ryan Lennard’s squad was 1-1 in dual meets last week after falling to Madison by one match.
La Jolla has also had a number of junior varsity wrestlers do well in various JV tournaments.
Freshman Joey Bruder and sophomore Metzli Quientero went undefeated in the West Hills Tournament. In the Ivan Olsen J.V Tournament, Quientero placed second, Bruder was third and freshman David Blasquez was fourth.
“All of our first-year wrestlers are improving daily and our returners continue to strengthen,” Lennard noted. “I feel we will have a good showing at our CIF Division IV tournament in February.”
At University City High, head coach Jeret Needham and the Centurions have gone 1-1 in league matches, beating Madison (53-27) and falling to Cathedral (39-37).
“Our team is young but talented,” Needham said.
First-year wrestler Steven Esquivel has been on fire at the 152 lb. weight class, going 23-6 so far. He has placed first or second in three tournaments and was named team captain.
In action last Saturday, UC wrestled in a tournament at San Ysidro, finishing in fourth place with four wrestlers in the finals. Freshman James Madden placed first at 215 lbs., while freshmen Andrew Altomare and Conner Toomes finished second, along with junior Thiago Soares. Sophomore Kevin McCarty has placed second and third in his last three consecutive tournaments.
The Centurions kids club wrestled at Rancho Bernardo on Jan 21. Lake Needham won his eighth consecutive tournament with a come-from-behind 5-4 victory. Needham is currently undefeated at 25-0.
Also winning gold were Jacob Goddard and Adam Barton. Silver medalists included Adrian Ortiz, Toby Brown and Zackey Barnhill, who all had great matches.