By Ed Piper, Jr.
The word on campus is that "30 or 40" students at La Jolla High, mostly underclassmen, went out for the Viking wrestling program in early workouts for the upcoming season.
If so, this would represent a complete rebuilding of the program from three years ago, when a largely senior varsity squad graduated and left the cupboard bare.
Head coach Kellen Delaney, who is ably aided by Ryan Lindenblatt, former head coach and newly etched name on the coaches' Wall of Honor at Edwards Field, has stressed relationship and collegiality among his fellow coaches and wrestlers.
It has worked. For a team that had to struggle to field enough qualified wrestlers to enter a dual meet against area opponents only a few years ago--following the "golden age" of recent LJHS wrestling that preceded it--the growth was already evident last year, with healthy participation at the prestigious Holtville Tournament in Holtville, east of El Centro, and a full dual meet schedule.
Now, with mentorship taking place among the student wrestlers and alumni even checking in with social media posts and visits from time to time, the passage of time is literally on the La Jolla program's side.
The coaches don't lack for expertise on the technical aspects of the sports, or wise words about navigating the travails of daily life as a teenager. But their real nitro in the tank is the brotherhood--and sisterhood, if any girls go out for what is open to be a coed team--among the student athletes.
One could see that, being around the team, and hear that in the words of Jack Hathaway and Jake Harvey, two of the leaders, as last season progressed.
The partial but incomplete new season's schedule posted on the school website shows initial action at the Carlsbad Invitational Dec. 3, with other tournaments following through the first two weeks of the month.
Then dual meet competition begins shortly after New Year's in January. Who those opponents will be has yet to be announced.
Also in there in the group coaching corps is Juan Sanchez, former Viking wrestler and former Viking head coach, as well as Walter Fairley, who of late has been acting as interim principal at Lincoln High in a pinch, but who always makes time for wrestling. Fairley is a California Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee.
In addition, Viking strength and conditioning coach Ryan Lennard comes in with big support. He is a roommate and close friend of Delaney.
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