By Ed Piper
Senior Keegan Leonard, in the decisive match of the afternoon, pinned Serra's Ryan Martinez with 13 seconds left in the second period to help propel La Jolla to its first dual meet victory of the shortened 2021 season over visiting Serra, 42-30, Wed., April 28, in the Big Gym.
It was the Vikings' first meet in front of fans after two duals with no fans allowed under San Diego Unified School District's rules governing indoor sports during COVID. A tiny contingent of spectators, with the limit of two per athlete, attended the competition.
"I used a spiral, which (former teammate) Buzzy Bomberger taught me," said Leonard, wrestling at 145 pounds, of the hold which allowed him to jockey his opponent back and forth until he could hold his shoulders down for the required three seconds late in the second of a potential three two-minute periods.
The occasion also marked the first dual meet in which Leonard, a senior waiting on a possible Naval Academy appointment for next year, and his teammates didn't appear gassed after their individual bouts. Last week, Leonard and teammate Chase Maisel, another 145-pounder bumped up to 152 with only one Serra wrestler at the former weight, and other La Jolla wrestlers were still visibly suffering the effects of a short preseason as they huffed and puffed through their bouts due to lack of conditioning.
This time, Leonard agreed after his bout, his conditioning over the past month kicked in and he was able to proceed at more normal strength in his match with Martinez.
Such is the nature of this shortened COVID season, in which sports no one thought would ever take place under existing restrictions at the height of the pandemic in January and February--wrestling, with its close contact, and certainly water polo--have been allowed to carry on competition, though abbreviated. Normally, La Jolla's wrestling team would take part in eight or more dual meets with opposing schools, plus three or more tournaments for individuals before entering postseason competition.
To open Wednesday's event, with La Jolla head coach Ryan Lindenblatt handling public address duties, Maisel pinned Serra's Sam Lam at 152 pounds with 24 seconds left in the second period after building a 4-1 lead to that point.
Almost all of the other 14 weight division matches were awarded to one school or the other by forfeit, a common event during COVID because of the decreased rosters going out for the sport. Unfortunately, Viking transfer Ricardo Correa wasn't able to show his normal skill in an exhibition match that didn't count for the team score at 182 pounds.
Correa's father, one of the few spectators in the sparsely-attended meet under the virus limitations, shared the story with a reporter of how in maintaining residences both in La Jolla and Mira Mesa, where his son wrestled for one year, dad would drive while Ricardo would run halfway to La Jolla as part of his conditioning. Then Ricardo would get in the car and ride the rest of the trip.
"Then he would do the rest of his conditioning at school," the proud papa said. It sounds like a pretty effective way of getting in shape.
Ricardo, who has an impressive physique when he takes off his shirt, wrestled as a ninth-grader at LJHS before participating for Mira Mesa in one of his middle years in high school. He is finishing off at La Jolla in his senior year.
Two other experienced Viking wrestlers also competed Wednesday. Caden Kestler, a sophomore at 138 pounds, was pinned by Gavin Avila of Serra in 2:19 (19 seconds into the second period) in an exhibition match. Heavyweight Danny Molestina pinned Serra's Max Clement 22 seconds into the second period of his exhibition match. Neither exhibition match counted for team points.
Leonard's mother said that should Keegan not receive an appointment to the Naval Academy this fall, he has already been accepted as a student by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and would enroll there in August. Then, if the naval appointment came a year from now, any credits he would gain at Cal Poly wouldn't count toward his graduation from the academy. He is "wait-listed" for Annapolis at this point.
Walter Fairley, Jr., a former LJHS administrator and coach, showed up for the first home dual meet of the season to offer advice to wrestlers and keep the book at the scorer's table. Fairley, a CIF champion when he was a student in the San Diego Unified School District, dates his wrestling involvement back to 1966-67, his 10th-grade year in high school. That makes this season his 55th as either a wrestler or coach.
Fairley was inducted into the state Wrestling Hall of Fame several years ago.
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