Two sets of chairs are placed on either side of the mat at most wrestling tournaments and coaches are encouraged to instruct their athletes from that vantage point.
Typically, a coach will have the privilege of occupying the perch for a match or two before relinquishing to a contemporary.
Typically.
Last Wednesday afternoon, San Marino High School wrestling Coach Eddie Aguirre spent so much time matside at the Rio Hondo League finals that he could have received mail inside Monrovia High School’s gymnasium. The first nine Titans qualified for the championship match, meaning that Aguirre spent the better part of an hour exhorting his charges. Remarkably, all nine walked off with league titles as San Marino threw a trump card on the Rio Hondo League team championship it won ten days earlier with a victory over South Pasadena.
A little math: Of the 11 wrestlers San Marino entered into the varsity bracket of the tournament, 10 qualified to move on to the CIF tournament by finishing in the top three of their respective weight class. Of those 10, nine came away as league champions, six doing so by pinning their opponent in their championship match, two doing so by technical fall, and one by a standard decision. The 10th CIF-qualifying wrestler took 3rd place by pinning his opponent to win his bronze medal match. The 11th wrestler just missed out on continuing into CIF post-season competition by finishing in 4th place. The league did not track team scores at this season’s tournament—as has been traditional on the past—but the Titans’ absolute dominance of the event was obvious.
Santino Sanchez got things started at 106 lbs., pinning his opponent at the 1:31 mark of the of third period. Koa Ruiz took just 1:28 to register a pinfall in the 113 lb. weight class. Raul Jimenez followed up in the 120 lb. weight class with a pin at 1:32 of the second period.
Devyn Che won the 126 lb. crown with a first period pin that took just a minute and a half.
Josh Trumbull took a technical fall at 132 lbs., winning the match by a final score of 17-2.
Senior Beau Perez won his fourth straight Rio Hondo League championship with another technical fall, winning 20-4 in just the first period.
Sophomore Luka Wick toyed with his opponent for more than a period, but eventually decked his man with 1:15 left in the second. Kurt Trumbull emerged victorious in the 152 lb. weight class with a pin that took just a little over a minute. Caleb Trumbull was the final champion, taking crown #9 with a 10-3 victory at 160 lbs.
Ryan Arringron punched his ticket to CIF with a third place finish in the 182 lb. weight class.
Matt Harlan continued to show improvement, finishing fourth at 195 pounds.
Full marks to the Titan junior varsity grapplers, who had solid finishes.
Ryan Zhang finished third at 126 lbs., Craig McLaren Swan did likewise at 132 pounds, while Gavin Palenik was fourth in the 160 lb. classification.
Sadly, the Titans lost to Long Beach Poly by a single point, 39-38, in the first round of the CIF Division III dual meet championships. Brackets for the CIF individual champions were not available at press time.
