LJ wrestling: Austin 2nd in CIF Division 4

La Jolla 128-pounder Elliot Austin (in black singlet)
moves toward his pin of Neven Hart of Imperial
in 24 seconds in the CIF quarterfinals.
(Photos by Ed Piper)
 

By Ed Piper

Elliot Austin, La Jolla's top wrestler, was in usual lightning form in the CIF Division 4 individual finals.

The 128-pound Briton, who wore bright red warm-up pants to the divisional meet at Mater Dei Sat., Feb. 17, pinned his first opponent, Neven Hart of Imperial, in 24 seconds.

The martial arts veteran then proceeded to hold the shoulders of Jason Harlan of Bonita to the mat for the requisite three seconds in the semifinals.

He met his match in Moises Pacheco of Chula Vista in the final, suffering a pin in the last minute of the second round.

But by then, Austin, a senior who carries the hopes of the La Jolla wrestling program for a potential college career, had secured a place in the Masters meet. (The top four wrestlers in each weight class in Division 4 advance to next Friday's Masters finals. That is a two-day meet.)

Asked about a bag of ice taped to his left knee after his first bout, the good-natured grappler said, "I was jogging around the (Mater Dei) gym in warm-ups, and I ran into the elbow of another wrestler sitting on the mat."

The mat clock shows the 24 seconds elapsed
for Austin's pin in the opening period of his
first bout of the day. He garnered a second place
finish in CIF Division 4.

He was guffawing at the unlikelihood of the bruise, but it didn't appear to hold the Viking star back in his bouts.

He has been on a hot streak ever since he won the Outstanding Wrestler award for the lower weights at the El Cajon Invitational in December, held at nearby San Ysidro High.

Elliot then went on to take fifth at the huge Holtville Rotary Invitational in Imperial County on the last weekend of January. "It was a much tougher bracket this year," said La Jolla coach Kellen Delaney at that time, of the 128-pound weight class that Austin competed in. Austin finished fourth in 2017 as a junior in the tourney.

An encouraging sign for the La Jollans was that their other senior, Christophe Naviaux, returned to competition at the CIF meet following several weeks on the shelf. The night before the Holtville tourney back in January, he went out and played pickup basketball, and suffered a sprained ankle.

He drove some of his teammates the 130 miles to Holtville the next morning, then hobbled around the tournament, unable to wrestle, on crutches. It was quite a sight to see.

At least he didn't have to wonder how his senior experience at Holtville was going to go. There wasn't any experience. He drove home that afternoon, then his mother drove back to Holtville the next day because the team needed another vehicle to get all eight active wrestlers back to La Jolla.