By Ed Piper
Sophomore Elliot Austin, with 31 wins during the season, received the Most Valuable Wrestler award and senior Jake Harvey was the winner of a special award from coach Walter Fairley, Jr. for embodying good values as a person at La Jolla's annual team dinner Sat., April 2.
Chris Abarca, who was not present, was recognized by head coach Kellen Delaney for "getting it" after an initial period of not really knowing what wrestling required mentally. Delaney called the award the Peter Donchev Award after the former Viking wrestler.
Senior Austin Clerget was recognized by Delaney for being present at all practices, meets, and other events during his career at LJHS.
Elliot Austin, at the dinner, said he is committed to the Vikings' offseason wrestling program and vowed to be "state champion" in his 115-pound weight class next year.
The Brit, who formerly devoted his non-school time to karate, got into a groove this season and helped spark the program's continuing resurgence and progress forward.
Fairley, an inductee into the California Wrestling Hall of Fame as a wrestler, coach, and administrator, said during his comments, "(Jake) is one of my children. I don't have children, but these are my kids."
He said, "During the season, we had a connection. I could tell if things weren't going the way he wanted them to. I could walk up to him, talk with him, and afterward, we were good to go." During his coach's comments, Harvey, who will enter Indiana University in the fall, nodded his head in agreement at Fairley's remarks.
Harvey, who graduates with fellow senior and close friend Jack Hathaway in June, shared, "My freshman year, I was in another sport. I didn't really know what 'the men in tights' did. I took part in the wrestling program for three years. It changed me as a person. I grew from a boy into a man."
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