At the heart of the Española Valley High School wrestling team is a pair of brothers from Chamita. Despite the individual emphasis of wrestling, the presence of the Montoya brothers has helped the Sundevils establish themselves as the top team in their district.
“They’re leaders and hard workers,” Española coach Henry MacErnie said. “They’ve been around a long time and they have a great attitude — they show up for practice everyday.”
The Sundevils have won the last three District 2AAAA wrestling titles. Lucas and Mariano Montoya have each won two consecutive district championships and this year are serving as co-captains of the Española wrestling team, along with senior Dylan Dominguez.
“They push the other guys,” MacErnie said. “If you have somebody good to work with, you’re going to get better if you have the guts to go up against them.”
Lucas and Mariano Montoaya have each placed at the state tournament the last two years. Lucas Montoya, a senior, has finished fourth overall at state in the 130-pound weight class each of the last two seasons, while his brother, a junior, has been a state placer in two different weight classes. He finished sixth in 2007 as a 140-pounder and was fifth in 2008 at 145 pounds.
While wrestling has been a part of the Montoya brothers’ lives for over a decade, the love of the sport took sometime to develop for the elder Montoya. Lucas Montoya wasn’t enthralled with wrestling at the start, while his younger brother Mariano Montoya has always enjoyed being around wrestling.
“I never wanted to wrestle,” Lucas Montoya said. “Now, I like it. As I grew older, the discipline and the hard work made you want to do it.”
Both brothers began wrestling under Henry Martinez, a friend of their father Ernest Montoya. Martinez coaches youngsters from the Española area in the skills of wrestling. Ernest put his sons into Martinez’s wrestling program when they were about 4 years old.
“I’ve always liked it,” Mariano Montoya said. “It keeps me in good shape and it’s a hard sport not many can do.”
Ernest Montoya, who ran cross country at Española Valley High School, wanted to involve his sons in wrestling because he felt that individual sports are beneficial to the development of the individual.
“It seems to build more character,” he said. “In wrestling, you don’t depend on anybody but yourself.”
The brothers have their different styles of wrestling. That was apparent at a recent practice, as Mariano was grappling with teammates within minutes of walking into the wrestling practice room. Lucas, in contrast, lay quietly on the mat in contemplation.
“Mariano’s more unorthodox,” MacErnie said. “He has natural quickness and strength and his own technique.”
Lucas initially wanted to be a basketball player, but made the decision to concentrate on wrestling in the eighth grade.
“I had to pick a sport I was good at and stick with it,” he said. “I decided I was better at wrestling than any other sport.”
Lucas’ style is more traditional.
“He’s more of a technician,” MacErnie said. “He’s not as aggressive (as Mariano) and needs to go after it a little bit harder.”
Mariano is looking to be a state champion, but he is cautious about making predictions.
“I haven’t seen all my competition, so I don’t want to start talking yet,” he said.
Wrestling at the next level may not be in either brother’s future since neither has been offered a wrestling scholarship yet, but college definitely is. That attitude comes from Ernest, who is the son of Freddie Montoya, a retired educator at Española Valley High School.
“In our family, it was not an option,” Ernest Montoya said. “It wasn’t if you go to college, but when you go to college.”
Ernest graduated from New Mexico State University with a degree in electrical engineering, but now devotes all his time to his band, Cuarenta y Cinco, in which he plays the guitar. Both brothers plan to follow in their father’s footsteps and enroll at New Mexico State University.
Both brothers have said they like the hard work that being a wrestler entails and that attitude should help them as they seek to lead Española to its first team trophy at the Class AAAA state wrestling tournament in February. Lucas and Mariano have their sights set higher than just winning another district championship this season. Despite their success in district competition and several individual state championships at the state tournament, the Sundevils have never won a team trophy at state wrestling meet.
“It will mean more to win as a team than to win as an individual,” Lucas Montoya said. “It will take intensity, dedication and discipline.”