By Rodolfo Trujillo
Under dim lighting and drowned-out by the opposing fans, Husky wrestlers were overworked in a 30-12 loss to Rio Hondo on Thursday.
The Huskies struggled and were very close on several matches, winning one by pin-fall. ELAC Coach Ralph Valle told his players after the meet, “I thought we won the first two matches,” referring to calls that the referee made that he felt were in error.
Those were lost 6-3 and 5-0 respectively. Valle did admit that his team has a lot of work to do.
“We’re not there yet,” he said during the team huddle after the match.
Valle tried to keep the Huskies’ spirits alive by telling his wrestlers, “I thought you guys did well. We’re a young team,” said Valle. Two wrestlers that did cause excitement from the fans were Matthew Beam and Joshua Newman.
Beam, a former high school wrestler who just started training after six years in the military, gave Rio Hondo’s Marty Legaspi a big challenge during their match in the 165-pound category.
Legaspi could not keep Beam down on the mat long, as was shown by Beam’s six escapes throughout the match. Despite a near-fall and two take-downs, Beam kept fighting back, showing tenacity and at one point throwing Legaspi with such force that he landed on the gym floor outside the mat.
In the third period, Legaspi’s points put him over by three points, winning the match by decision 11-8.
ELAC won the next match when Joshua Newman took the 165-pound category from Rio Hondo’s Barrocio, who goes by one name. Newman is ranked number four in that category by California Community College Wrestling (CCCW).
Newman did not give up much.The match was a power struggle that didn’t produce any points until the second period when Newman used power to free himself from Barrocio’s hold and reverse it in his favor. In the end, Newman pinned Barrocio with 1:07 to go in the third period.
ELAC’s Angel Nunez was dazed after a hard takedown and numerous near falls in his match against Rio Hondo’s Martinez. This resulted in a pin-fall victory for Martinez, who threw Nunez hard on the mat, causing him to injure his head and neck.
He had trouble recovering and was checked by the athletic trainer on hand, who gave him an ice bag to place on the injured area. Nunez was able to walk away from the incident.
For a detailed list of the game’s results go to the California Community College Wrestling website: http://caccwrestling.wordpress.com/results/dual-results/dual-meets-week-of-10311/
Wrestlers are some of the most overall stergnost men on the planet! World Strong Men competitors don’t have the same functional strength in an actual real full-contact combat situation in terms of being able to move and control your opponent as wrestlers do! truly amazing and super conditioned athletes they are!