Noah Pace, Victor Franklin, and the other five Viking wrestlers who battled in the 62nd Annual Holtville Rotary Invitational this past weekend (Jan. 30-31) resumed what has been a parade of warriors going back at least to the 1990's in the annual competition.
After a six-year gap (since 2020), first-year head coach Joey Stofko led a seven-spot of wrestlers into the tourney Fri., Jan. 30 in the desert. They were building on a foundation of the many other La Jolla High student-athletes who have competed in the tournament, going back to the 1990's, when results are available.
The most decorated La Jolla wrestler in that time is Juan Sanchez, in 1999 named the Outstanding Wrestler for the lower weights at 114 pounds. The Schon brothers, Dan and Paul, received honors in the 2000's, placing sixth at 152, then fifth at 163 in 2000-2001 (Dan), and first at 147 pounds, and second at 162 in 2002-2003 (Paul) to complete the family dominance at Holtville. Paul Schon is said to be the last Viking go to the state CIF tournament.
There have been many other red-and-black representatives who have made the 130-mile trek to the desert and upheld La Jolla's honor: Ryan Lennard, long-time coach of the current Vikings, is listed in the Holtville program as taking sixth place at 137 pounds in 2004, his senior year.
The earliest mention of La Jolla in Holtville records comes in the 1994 competition, when Miki Kunitake (103), Mike Reese (135), Jason Lee (140), James Gates (145), and Naiche ("nye-shees") Kennedy (275) all placed in the top six in their respective weight classes. Walter Fairley, Jr., La Jolla's Coach Emeritus, and others still have contact with Kunitake and Naiche, as well as Juan Sanchez.
Kunitake and Kennedy again placed in 1995, along with Sam Mestre (133) and Chris Maxfield (192).
With Sanchez (104) placing as a sophomore in 1997, others performed well, including Julio Marenco (126), Ian Reddish (136), and Matt Lagler (153).
Eric Peterson (173) and Wade Green (277) broke through in the 1998 edition, along with repeaters Sanchez (105 as a junior) and Reddish (137).
Another repeater was Elliot Austin (128), who finished in the top six in 2017-2018.
One notices how in the early years of the extant records, schools we would no longer think of as having powerful programs show up: Mountain Empire, which is located near Mount Laguna and Campo (two top-6 finishers in 1992); Valhalla no longer participates in the tourney, but had many top placers in 1993; Orange Glen dominated that same year.
Rancho Bernardo came out of the woodwork in 2004-2005, and under Coach Joe Eddie Terribilini now vies with local powers Granite Hills and Brawley for the team title on a yearly basis.
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A side note is that Willie James Jones, whom Fairley coached at Lincoln High, won the Outstanding Wrestler award in the upper weights in 1993. The valedictorian/student body president has the City Conference Championships tourney (competed for a week before) named after him. Willie was gunned down in random gang violence before entering college on a full wrestling scholarship. Fairley still speaks fondly of him and his family, whom he knows personally.
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