LJ wrestling: Heavy-duty schedule

Coaches Kellen Delaney (left rear) and

Juan Sanchez (right rear) look on at

the Holtville High Tournament

as a Viking wrestler prepares

for a bout Jan. 29, 2016.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

The Viking wrestlers are in the midst of the intensive part of their schedule right now. The girls, led by senior 110-pounder Maddie Quach, are coming off competition in the local Warriors of the West tournament at Clairemont High Jan. 3.

The boys, likewise, competed the same day at the big Mission Hills Invitational, an annual event on the CIF Section calendar.

After three wins in three duals (usually held Wednesdays, opposite weekend tourneys), La Jolla faces Point Loma Jan. 14, then SDHS a week later for Senior Night.

Amazing to think that Senior Night is coming up so quickly for long-time veteran Vikes Noah Pace, Liam Kressin, Patrick Fitzmaurice, and Asher Mazzen Sternberg on the boys' side. Quach, plus classmates Grace Roman and Becca Durst, are coming up on the girls' side.

Monte Vista High hosts a trio of tourney-style events in the next week-plus: Boys varsity Jan. 10, boys JV Jan. 17, then on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day the girls. A big week-and-a-half.

Coach Kellen Delaney (right) gives

a Viking wrestler feedback after a

tough bout in the Holtville High gym

Jan. 29, 2016. Note that Holtville

also has the Vikings as a mascot,

though green and yellow.

Assistant Ryan Lennard's counsel on a lean diet to lose weight during the season (to get down a weight division under the new-year allowance) and maintain weight in the offseason becomes even more important. (This writer, for one, stresses out and drives hurriedly to In-N-Out, blowing the whole make-believe attempt at the intake regimen.)

Everybody is looking ahead to the great Holtville Tournament weekend Jan. 30-31. The present wrestlers haven't been able to take part since COVID, but in pre-COVID days, the whole team headed east to El Centro environs and stayed overnight with host families from Holtville High.

This is in store for the squad and staff. What's really attractive to aspiring wrestlers is that there is a separate bracket--apart from the tournament championship and consolation brackets--that gives the younger grapplers a chance to gain mat experience and work on their stuff in a competitive environment.

C.J. Johnston, Holtville's long-time head coach and Dean of Students, said by phone Jan. 9 there will be a "Hard Luck" bracket again this year out on the concrete basketball courts behind the gym (with wrestling pads). It will only consist of "a few matches" in its new evolution since the old days. But at least developing wrestlers will get more chances than just the championship (challenging) and consolation (only a little less challenging) brackets.

Holtville is a big, big tournament.