Wrestlers secure four spots to state competition
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Senior James Ethan Harris took home the 2-5A Regional Championship on Saturday, battling a district foe in Mateo Gutierrez for the fifth time this year for the gold medal.
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Regional champion, senior Mercede Alvarez earned first on Saturday along with comepting against Ivory Truitt, who is currently ranked #1 in the state.
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Senior William Redden finished fourth in the competition, earning his spot to state.
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Junior Taylor Clapp secured her spot at the 5A State meet with a fourth place finish at regionals.
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The wrestling team brought their all to the mat at the 2-5A Regional competition on Saturday finishing with four state qualifiers: seniors James Ethan Harris, Mercede Alvarez, and William Redden, along with junior Taylor Clapp.
“Our wrestlers performed great,” co-head coach Justin Koons said. “James-Ethan had to battle a district foe in Mateo Gutierrez for the fifth time this year for the gold medal. It came down to overtime, once again, in a nail biter. James-Ethan was able to secure the win with just seconds left on the clock. Mercede also had to face a familiar opponent in the finals, her match came down to solid wrestling, keeping good position, and confidence. It was hands down the best I´ve seen Mercede wrestle all year long and this is the right time to be peaking for sure.”
Senior James-Ethan Harris is not letting the win get to his head, and is looking towards the 5A state meet.
“Winning the regional tournament wasn’t fulfilling for me,” Harris said. “To be the best you cannot let being a regional champ get to your head, upsets happen all the time. That’s why it’s important to keep your emotions in check. Yeah it’s cool for a day but being the champion only matters in one tournament, state. My goal for state has been the same goal all season, to be at the top of the podium.”
Senior Mercede Alvarez also earned her spot with a regional championship on Saturday.
“It feels like an overall out of body experience,” Alvarez said. “I have always seen it in football where they throw the ball and shout let’s go, and that’s exactly how it felt. I just felt the rush of ‘oh my god I just did that’.”
Fourth place wasn’t the goal for Redden, but he’s still advancing to state.
“It was a really hard tournament,” Redden said. “I actually lost my first match which kind of killed my self-esteem but I battled back and took fourth and the top to go to state so that was all I had to do.”
Junior Taylor Clapp had a similar route to Redden in the competition.
“The amount of focus by our athletes was unmatched. Implementing what we practice comes with that trust that what we work on in the mat room will work in matches,[/pullquote]“I personally don’t think that I performed my best,” Clapp said. “I lost to a girl that I should not have lost to and that really bruised my ego a little bit but I’m looking to get her at state and I think that we’re going to have a good run.”
The four qualifiers now move on to the 5A state meet Friday and Saturday in Cypress.
“The biggest strengths that I saw this past weekend was the confidence and trust that we´ve been trying to instill in them all year long,” Koons said. “The amount of focus by our athletes was unmatched. Implementing what we practice comes with that trust that what we work on in the mat room will work in matches. We just had to stay the course.”
Haley Ward is a senior and in her third year with Wingspan. On campus, she serves as Student Council President, she is on the Varsity cheer team, and she...
