By Ed Piper
The first day of the 2022-2023 wrestling season for La Jolla's team arrived Mon., Nov. 7, with eight varsity grapplers working out together with head coach Kellen Delaney in the wrestling team room in the Main Gym facility.
Among the returners working out were junior Sebastian Rivera and sophomore Matisse Pickett, one of four projected girls who will wrestle this winter, according to senior Esmeralda "Esme" Sanchez, a transfer from Madison High who plans to go out but had paperwork pending on Monday.
The other expected female wrestlers include Ella Roman, who also pole-vaults for the Viking track and field team, and Tora, a classmate in Sanchez's Government class first period.
"We have a parents meeting Wednesday (Nov. 9) at 6:30 p.m. in room 801, Athletic Director Aaron Quesnell's classroom," Delaney informed the combined returners and novice wrestlers assembled in the Viking team room before 4 p.m.
Delaney took the "varsity" wrestlers in the team room for a workout that followed the initial information gathering, while Kraig Feldman, like Delaney a returning coach for the Vikings who is in his third year teaching at Taft Middle School after one year on campus at La Jolla High, took the novices up to the Mezzanine above the Main Gym to sanitize the wrestling mats, tape them together, then hold a workout till 5:30 p.m. or so.
Esme and Roman, among others, have martial arts experience. Sanchez said this will be her first year wrestling, following her transfer from "the Madhouse", which friend and foe alike refer to Madison as. She also has participated in softball, soccer (since she was four years old), basketball, tennis, and surfing, as well as jiu-jitsu on a club team.
Ryan Lindenblatt, an on-campus teacher and coach who is on leave, served as head coach last year. So, with him being on leave this school year, Delaney rotated back into the spot he has held previously.
Harry Wilson, Class of 2013, who wrestled on the Viking league champions the winter of 2012-13, will assist as a volunteer coach, along with Vinny Iudici (ee-oo-deech-ee), who wrestled at Lafayette High School in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated there in the Class of 2018. Both were present Monday.
Wilson competed on the '13 league champions with Timmy Cundiff and others.
Beside the eight varsity wrestlers in the team room, 15 novices worked out with Feldman on the mats on the Mezzanine.
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