While Poway took the State Championship, Patrick Henry High School had a record year in many areas that aren’t as obvious.

The team was poised for a strong showing with a roster of nearly 40 wrestlers, most of whom were first-year wrestlers. Six seniors were ready for a strong season as were other returning wrestlers.

Last year the team sent two wrestlers to State Championships and the goal was to have at least one return. Other goals included a girls wrestling team and a Middle School wrestling program.

Girls team full of first-year wrestlers had an exciting season

It began with freshman Violet Gray and sophomore Destiny Torres, respectively, placing at a couple of novice tournaments and then the team transitioning to varsity with three placers at the Clairmont Varsity.

A Ukrainian refugee, Renata Usharuk, joined the team partway through the season.

With experience in sambo and jiujitsu, she helped the team get to a 5-2 dual record. She took third place along with freshman Aubrey Lund at the City Championships.

Lund became the first Patrick Henry girl to place at CIF taking fifth place. The team of seven is graduating one senior, Alexandra Hopkins, who is planning to attend Boise State University.

The team bonded over the sport and is looking to grow and improve next year.

PHHS boys’ team also had some success

The team had many tough wrestlers this year, but due to injuries and a young squad the team had a tough showing in League with a 3-2 record and 5-8 overall.

Patrick Henry had three wrestlers in the running for League Championship with Koa Altmeyer being 5-0 in league, Alex Adler 4-1 and Ethan Vinoray at 4-1. Vinoray was the returning CIF finalist and state qualifier, with his one loss occurring due to mid match injury. Adler became the first Patrick Henry wrestler to place four times at the CIF championship, taking seventh place and winning two matches at Masters.

Sophomore Abdullah Alshami placed at CIF for the second time taking seventh as well, while senior Francisco Saroldi-Gonzalez, took third place in one of the toughest CIF competitions in a long time.

Patrick Henry junior varsity also had a good year.

With a record number of freshmen and jayvee they were able to win the Madison JV Championships and many placed at the Clairmont JV championships.

The freshman team competed at the La Costa Canyon and Mount Carmel Freshman Championships. Anthony Mokhov and Nicholas Arambula both placed fourth at the San Diego Freshman championships. Both were part of the Middle School wrestling club at Pershing and Lewis, showing that starting early can have a big impact on kids.

We are very excited for next year with San Diego Unified adopting wrestling as one of its new Middle School sports. The added two to three years will lead to many podium finishes for the Patriots and be a big boost to the San Diego Conference overall.

The other benefits will be kids getting into shape, creating friendships and finding success on and off the mat. Patrick Henry Wrestlers had a 2.9 unweighted GPA with many wrestlers having some of their best years.

All sports help kids with goal-setting, grit and perseverance.

Few sports provide a bigger challenge and larger results than wrestling.

To learn more about Middle School wrestling go a: https://sdusdathletics.com/middle-schools/.

(Foto de cortesía)