On January 5th, West High wrestling showed us just how much work they’ve been putting in.  It was the first league duel against North High, and the vigorous athleticism of our school’s capable wrestling team sent the Saxons back home with empty hands.

  The meet kicked off with one of our most talented wrestlers, Josh Ingles (12) stepping onto the mat, competing for West in the 106 pound weight class match. He and his opponent were tied by the end of their match. Unfortunately, Ingles lost in overtime by 2 points.

  While this may have worried other teams, our Warriors remained steadfast. They kept their cool and stayed confident throughout.

  Gabe Kim (12) was up next. Kim pinned his opponent in less than a minute, scoring 6 points for West High. This victory really set the tone for the rest of the meet, especially for Nathan Mundo (11) who was up next.

  Mundo commented, “This was a very personal match because I lost to the same guy last season, but this time around I beat him in  overtime which was a huge deal for me.”

  Following this impressive change of pace was Stephen Nothern (12), who pinned his challenger in a very respectable 58 seconds. These first three matches boosted the team’s confidence for good reasons.

  North didn’t have any wrestlers for the weight classes 152-182 pounds, which set West up for a very secure lead. Although it was a positive thing for the team, Andrew Ceja (12) was disappointed that he wasn’t able to wrestle for his team.

  “I’m glad that the team won but I’m upset that I didn’t get the chance to wrestle anybody. I real think that I could have gotten some more points for us.”

  The final match up had Cameron Coates (11) wrestling for the 195 pound weight class. He pinned his opponent in just over a minute. The matches that preceded ended in byes, so the final score of the meet was left at 63-3 with West stomping out the competition.

  “We were in our own world.” says Nothern, “We were all so confident in ourselves and we had almost no doubt we were going to win. I’m really happy with how everything went.”    

  Thanks to our Varsity team, West was able to maintain it’s reputation as one of the South Bay’s fiercest competitors, and was able to truly showcase our student’s athleticism and pride.