Santa Ynez wrestling started off the New Year with a bang, with both the varsity and junior varsity teams placing first Jan. 6 against Cabrillo High. The varsity team, which prevailed 44-28 over the Conquistadores, improved their record to 10-2, 1-0 in league action.
Atascadero Revolution was held on Jan. 7-8, where the Pirates took 6th out of 22 teams, while missing 5 out of the 14 weight classes due to injured athletes.
The teams were scheduled to compete against Nipomo on Tuesday, Jan. 11, but scores were not available before the Journal press time. The Santa Ynez Varsity Tournament is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Jan. 14-15.
The team took nine wrestlers to the Atascadero tournament, seven of whom placed, and all of whom had at least two wins. “That’s something that a coach can really be proud of!” said Michael Aanerud, who along with Brian Wallace, coaches the teams. Santa Ynez finished above every team in the Los Padres league including the defending champions Morro Bay, and “that’s a big confidence booster for us.”
The individual results, by weight, were Massimo Genovese (112 pounds) 7th place, Casey Ellis (130) 2nd, Carlos Soto (135) 4th, Josh Schaeffer (152) 5th, Jake Jacobsen (171) 4th, Blake Chaves (189) 3rd and Lee Jensen (215), coming in 1st place.
“The tournament had some tough local teams, and then a lot of schools from the Central section that we don’t get the opportunity to wrestle against very often. It was a talented field, and going in short-handed didn’t really slow us down as a team,” said Aanerud. Ellis had a tough match against Atascadero and battled the whole way through.
“He never got the benefit of the doubt on any close calls, but while that might cause other kids to fold, it just brought Casey’s game to a different level,” said his coach. Ellis lost in a close decision. “He had the right attitude about it and he kept a smile on his face and was just happy to have had the challenge. If he sees that kid at a tournament in the near future, he’ll be ready.”
Jensen also had an awesome tournament, his coaches report. “He pinned every kid that he wrestled heading into the finals. He wrestled a kid from Yosemite in the finals that outweighed him by about 15 pounds, and looked about a foot taller than him,” said Aanerud.
Lee outworked his opponent from start to finish. The match started off with a hard-fought takedown and was sealed with solid work from the top to earn the 10-5 decision victory. “It was Lee’s first varsity individual tournament title and he really earned it – we were very proud of him!”
“We were happy with the results this weekend and now we’re looking to keep up our momentum, and ride it into our league duals and home tournament next weekend. Once we get to full-strength, we should be pretty tough from top to bottom,” said Aanerud.
The coaches were also happy with the team’s performance in the earlier league match against Cabrillo. “It was actually a huge test for us to start off league competition. Cabrillo has improved quite a bit, and they were a very tough team. On the other hand, we were facing a little bit more adversity than we are used to with a few of our regular kids bumped from the lineup because of injury,” said Aanerud.
Five athletes had pins, the fastest of the night coming from Levi Gonnion (125) in 42 seconds. Also earning pins were Genovese (112), Soto (130), Ellis (135) and Joey Norcia (160).
Michael Azevedo (119) had an impressive match with a 6-3 decision. “He went up against a senior captain (Garrison Haskins) from Cabrillo. He transitioned very well and chain-wrestled the whole match. It was definitely the best he’s ever wrestled. When he won the match, it was a big morale booster for the team because the score was pretty tight,” said Aanerud.
Also of note was a technical fall from Jacobsen (171) with a score of 18-1.
“The match was won for us through our kids going the extra mile. It was a great team effort all around, and it gave us a chance to test out our depth a little bit too, with some of our normal starters unavailable,” said Aanerud.
— Staff Report