LJ wrestling: Jasso in transition

Joshua Jasso (center), defending Eastern League
champion at 197 pounds, before the Vikings'
dual meet against Patrick Henry Dec. 18.
Jasso did not wrestle that night.
(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Joshua Jasso, who won the 197-pound weight title in the Eastern League last year, confides that he's working on getting prepared for this winter's wrestling season--despite coming over extremely late from the football team, which was occupied with the state playoffs through December 14.

"I have been trying to push myself in order to be the best possible version of myself," says the outgoing senior, who served as wrestling team captain both in title and in deed last season. "I have been running on my free time."

The earnest young man joined Head Coach Tyler Roach's football team this fall as a 5'10", 205-pound lineman wearing jersey number 74. He played on both offense and defense for the winning Vikings, the first league champions from the school since 1995 and the first CIF champs from LJHS since 1993.

Joshua lined up at guard on offense, and defensive tackle on the other side of the ball.

The challenge for Jasso, who also placed fourth in the CIF Division 4 Finals last February, is doing something he's never had to before: start working out for wrestling long after his teammates have been doing it.

Psychologically, it's got to be tough. Head Coach Kellen Delaney's squad of 30 wrestlers, made up mostly of younger, inexperienced athletes new to the team, began official workouts back in November. The first official competition for a veteran competitor like Joshua would have been November 16, at the Rancho Bernardo Takedown tourney. But, with the Viking football team winning the league title and then the CIF Division 3 championship, he was a month away from even stepping on the practice mat at LJHS.

Says Jasso, who is very close to his parents, Adelita and Joaquin, "I have also been wrestling at home with my dad, since we have wrestling mats.

"I have been trying to lift (in the school weight room) as much as possible, too. In the wrestling room, I have only been wrestling coaches, and although it's tough, it is also getting me a lot better."

Wrestling is a unique sport, in which coaches can provide practice opposition for their athletes. You don't see that in too many other high school sports (though I have seen a local coach serve as fill-in at quarterback, and sometimes assistant coaches in basketball will participate in practice drills; ditto with baseball coaches pitching batting practice).

In the Vikings' first dual meet, December 18 at home against Patrick Henry, Delaney said his 197-pounder was held out for medical reasons. At the meet, Joshua seemed to be dealing with some kind of issue in a quadricep.

That delayed his return to wrestling. But after the two-week winter break, from December 21-January 5, the team captain will have plenty of opportunities to compete. Beginning January 8, La Jolla will have dual meets on five straight Wednesday nights through January, into the beginning of February. The last four of those are league meets, against Point Loma (Jan. 15), Cathedral, Madison, and Morse.

The team is holding practice during the break at 9 a.m. on weekdays.

Jasso, enjoying the immense support of his parents, saw them drive to Holtville (near El Centro) for the annual Holtville Rotary Invitational two years ago, then stay overnight to view both days of competition.

In Joshua's four years in the La Jolla program, Delaney and his staff have seen the young man progress from a newbie to an active, communicative team leader who exhorts his teammates and models hard work and dedication by example.