Two local scholastic wrestling teams have been hitting the mats in recent competition.
At La Jolla High, the Vikings under head coach Ryan Lennard competed recently in the Ivan Olsen JV Wrestling Tournament at Morse High School.
La Jolla ended up with three champions, one runner-up and a pair of third-place finishes. They included Joey Bruder (first place, 119 lbs.), Jordan Dyer (first place, 152 lbs.), David Blasquez (first place, 215 lbs.), David Schwartz (second place, 125 lbs.), Kirk Lee (third place, 112 lbs.) and Garret Kennedy (third place, 140 lbs.).
The Vikings also competed in the 45th annual Holtville Wrestling Tournament, with Blasquez getting a sixth-place medal at 215 lbs.
La Jolla returns to action Jan. 31 at home against University City High. The Vikings will have two individuals going for Western League championships in Tyler Rohr (senior) and Bruder (sophomore).
“The kids are really starting to pick up the intensity in which they wrestle,” Lennard commented. “It has showed in our last couple of competitions and we seem to be peaking at just the right time, as CIF is just around the corner. Since the beginning of the season, I have been telling the kids that just like anything else in life, you get out of it what you put in, and these kids have put the effort in and now they are seeing the results.”
At University City High, head coach Jeret Needham and the Centurions have had to battle a numbers shortage all season.
With only a handful of kids on the varsity team, the Centurions are going into matches having to forfeit a number of weight classes, then finding themselves behind in points.
One of the varsity wrestlers who has done well this winter is Dylan Ebersole at 140 pounds. Ebersole has had three tournament places and sports a 17-8 record to date.
“Dylan is the hardest-working kid I’ve had in years,” Needham remarked.
A pair of wrestlers on the UC Kids Club team have also done well to date. Baron Mack (70 lbs.) sports two tourney places, while Lake Needham (80 lbs., novice) has three tourney places to date.
“We had 18 kids go to a recent Kids Club tournament and 15 of them got medals,” Jeret Needham added.