The Española Valley High School wrestling team had another chance to compete in front of a home crowd at the EVHS Quad meet.
The Sundevils won three of their four duals on May 12, and while they lost their district dual against Los Alamos, Española coach Aaron Salinas said he hopes to have as many wrestlers as possible qualify for state at the May 22 district tournament at Moriarty.
The champion in each weight class gets an automatic bid to the state tournament, and wild cards are chosen based on season records.
“I think a lot of my guys are going to make it,” said Salinas. “I have a few guys that I think can make it in there as district champion.”
The Sundevils had several strong performances despite the loss to Los Alamos. Adrian Padilla won a hard-fought match with a pin near the end in the heavyweight category, and Kyle Coffeen won a major decision at 145 pounds. Salinas said he changed the order while wanting to save one of the wrestlers who was battling an injury for the district tournament.
“I think we wrestled really well,” Salinas said.
Salinas was also impressed with the way freshman Noah Maez, despite losing the match, avoided a pin against a 160-pound wrestler who is 13-3 this season, and he also won two other matches on the day.
“Those guys are physically stronger than he is at the weight class that he wrestles,” said Salinas. “He’s probably the one I would say I’m most impressed with.”
Española recognized the four seniors on the team, including Devin Atencio, the former state champion who is looking to get back to the top this year, as well as Jerome Martinez, Simon Montoya and Aaron Altamirano.
Altamirano was one of the players who came right from football season, and he said it was very difficult to lose 20 to 30 pounds.
“Just running, exercise, practice, sweating,” he said.
He said it becomes tough to get motivated for practice every day, but is happy he joined the team and was able to compete this year.
“It means a lot,” said Altamirano. “I really didn’t think I was going to have a wrestling season this year, because of corona and all that stuff. I was honestly really sad, because it was my senior year. But I’m glad I got to wrestle, even though I lost twice already. I would have regretted it if it didn’t happen.”
Altamirano said he wants to place in state, where he was one match short last year, and see if he can get a scholarship.
In their first match, against West Las Vegas, Devin Atencio (106 pounds), Landon Atencio (120), Noah Maez (at 152 pounds) and Altamirano (195) all won with pins, and Cruz Sandoval (126) won with a technical and the Sundevils won 47-23.
In a 46-27 win over Robertson, both Atencios, Coffeen and Eduardo Martinez (220) all won six points in their matches, and Cruz Sandoval (126) scored four with a decision.
The win was the first of the year for freshman Eduardo Martinez, and Salinas said he was happy to see that.
“He’s been working hard, he’s a first year wrestler,” he said. “For him to get a win like that, that’s great.”
Salinas said he was happy to give the team an opportunity to compete at home, but he still wished more people showed up to support them.
“We’re all part of the same community,” he said. “These kids need that support.”
Salinas hopes this year can be another step toward bringing the program back to where it was when the Sundevils won more than a dozen district championships.
“I want to build this program up to a championship program that we used to have before,” he said. “We need more kids to come out, instead of being stagnant in the bleachers and watching other sports, they should jump into wrestling.”
Pojoaque Elks
Though the Pojoaque Elks were not able to record a point in either of their two matches, and brought just two wrestlers to their meet, Ubaldo Garcia and Diego Wheeler, they fought hard the entire way.
Pojoaque coach Johnny Tapia said only two of the five wrestlers on the team made the bus, but said he will show up with any number of wrestlers.
“We’re here to wrestle and have a good time,” he said.
Through all the challenges of the season, the Elks continue their wrestling.
“The ups and downs with COVID, they didn’t think they were going to have a wrestling season,” said Tapia. “The kids are happy to be back on the mat. These two guys are brand new to the sport, never wrestled before, and they’re putting 100 percent in.”