The Boys Ranch, Hereford,
Borger, Dumas, Palo Duro and Tascosa boys
teams will hit the mat. Boys Ranch and Hereford head to Ulysses, Kan.,
for the Tiger Invitational, Borger and Dumas travel to Tulsa, Okla.,
for the Mid-American Nationals, and Palo Duro and Tascosa head to Santa
Fe, N.M., for the Jaguar Invitational.
"We see each other so much the
way it is, so it is kind of nice to
be able to split off and see some different competition," Boys Ranch
coach Paul Jones said. "When you wrestle different places, you see
different styles. The greatest thing about where we live here in the
Panhandle is we can wrestle in five different states a lot faster than
we can even go to Dallas. It makes a more all-around wrestler when they
are able to see different wrestlers from different states with
different styles."
The Amarillo High girls squad
is the lone area school heading to the
Juan Seguin Tour in Arlington.
The most popular wrestling spot
this weekend is the Texas Ladies
Classic in Frisco. Hereford, Tascosa, Caprock, Boys Ranch and Palo Duro
will compete in the tournament open to all Texas teams.
"It's a neat deal knowing what
teams could be (in Frisco)," Jones
said. "Last year, we saw some good competition. That's what we are
hoping for again. It gives you a measuring stick for where you stand
not just in this area but in the state, too. I don't remember how many
state medalists were at this tournament last year, but it was a large
number."
Tascosa coach Joe Stafford
views the Frisco tournament as a chance
to see what the rest of the state has to offer.
"I think it is a good chance
for us to see some of those teams down
south that we don't get a chance to see on a regular basis," Stafford
said. "We get enough competition with the local girls teams here to be
prepared in the postseason to match up with them. It always kind of
scares you when you don't know what's going on in the other part of the
state and who they might have. It's just good to get down there to get
a look at them and wrestle with them before all the marbles are on the
table."
According to a long article in
the Anchorage Daily News,
high school wrestling (the
most demanding prep sport) is steadily gaining popularity among
Alaska's young women, and is currently experiencing a boom. What's
more, seven female wrestlers have qualified for this year's upcoming 1A
through 4A state tournaments. Alaska's boom really took off when
Skyview's Michaela Hutchinson became the first female in the nation to
win a non-gender-segregated state high school title in 2005-06, and
it's still going strong. Read much more here.
J.P. Santone took his previous
coaching position to save his brother’s high school wrestling
program. He has loftier goals as the new varsity wrestling coach for
Great Oak High School’s Wolfpack squad.
The new coach pinned down this
portion of his coaching career at a Nov. 14 team breakfast and the
squad’s first practice two days later.
Competing for a league title
was a goal Santone achieved at Madison High School in San Diego. Last
year, the Warhawks were 9-2 overall in dual meets, but the team fell
short of the league championship.
Santone hopes that Great Oak
will soon compete for the title in a hotly competitive league that
includes eight-time defending CIF champion Temecula Valley High School.
"It’s a tall order,
but you’ve got to have direction somewhere," Santone said in
a recent interview. "I’ve got time. I’m diving in
head-first and putting in everything I’ve got."
Santone, who is also a history
teacher at Great Oak, was the first coach to be hired by Bobby Arban,
the Wolfpack’s new athletic director.
Santone moved from the Scripps
Ranch area of San Diego – which is where Arban was raised
– to Temecula in late August.
Arban attended Mira Mesa High
School in San Diego before Scripps Ranch had its own high school.
Santone grew up in Mira Mesa
and would have attended Mira Mesa High School had he not attended
Catholic schools.
He attended Good Shepherd in
Mira Mesa for grade school and then spent four years at University High
School, which became Cathedral Catholic after it relocated in 2004.
Prior to being hired as a
teacher at Great Oak, Santone had planned to move to Temecula. He was
drawn to the community by the affordability of its housing, its
small-town feel and the wrestling legacy it has crafted over the past
15 years.
"I knew that wresting in
Temecula was very good," he said.
Great Oak is in the Southwest
League with Chaparral, Murrieta Valley, Temecula Valley, Temescal
Canyon and Vista Murrieta.
Under current coach Arnold
Alpert, Temecula Valley has built a wrestling dynasty by winning 13 CIF
division championships over the past 15 seasons and finishing as the
CIF runner-up the other two seasons.
"They’ve definitely
set a good example of how to run a program," Santone said.
Santone replaced an off-campus
coach and many of the students he encountered during his first two
months at Great Oak were unaware that a school wrestling team existed.
"My main goal as a wresting
coach at Great Oak right now is just bringing wrestling back to the
school," he said. "I think having a solid head coach who is going to be
there for a long time is going to help."
Santone spent four years on
University High School’s varsity wrestling team. As a
189-pounder, he placed sixth in the CIF division meet as a junior and
second in the division meet as a senior, although he did not place in
the all-division Masters meet either year.
He was also a center and middle
linebacker on the Dons’ football team, spending three years
on the varsity and participating in the Dons’ 1999 CIF section
championship.
After his graduation from
University High School in 2002, Santone attended San Diego State
University. He was on the school’s club wrestling team as a
freshman and sophomore.
As a college junior, he was the
head varsity coach at Madison High School, where his younger brother,
Adam, was wrestling.
"They couldn’t find
anybody at the time, and they were worried about closing the program
down," the new Wolfpack coach said.
The 2004-05 season was Adam
Santone’s senior year at Madison and J.P.’s first
year as a coach.
The Warhawks were 0-5 in dual
meets that year and placed 19th at the CIF divisional meet. Last
year’s 9-2 dual meet record was complemented by a
fourth-place CIF finish.
"It was a good turnaround for
the team," Santone said. "It took me a little time to build it."
Madison also competed for the
Western League championship, although Cathedral Catholic won that title
and handed the Warhawks a dual-meet league loss.
Santone earned a bachelor of
arts degree from San Diego State in 2006 as a history major, and in
2007 he received his teaching credential.
He was hired by the San Diego
Unified School District to teach history at Madison after earning his
credential, so his five years at Madison include three as an off-campus
coach and two as on-campus staff.
"I understand how difficult it
is, because you’re not there every day," Santone said of
being an off-campus coach.
Santone noted that an on-campus
coach tends to establish better relationships with the athletic
department, school administrators and the students themselves.
His daily presence at Great Oak
led to a team turnout of 24 freshmen wrestlers and approximately 45
junior varsity and varsity wrestlers on the first day of practice.
"It was a bigger number than I
expected," Santone said. "Definitely, being on campus helps establish
the word with the kids."
The Wolfpack wrestlers include
five girls.
"We’re definitely
trying to schedule in some girls’ tournaments for them to
attend," Santone said.
The girls will also likely
compete at a freshman and junior varsity tournament that will take
place Dec. 5 at Poway High School.
Santone often went to Mira Mesa
High for off-season training when he was a grappler, and the Marauders
will travel to Temecula for a dual meet. That encounter will be Great
Oak’s first match of the season on Dec. 2.
Great Oak will compete in a
six-way dual meet Dec. 19 at Madison. Chad Starling, who was
Santone’s assistant coach at Madison, has taken over as the
Warhawks’ head coach, while Adam Santone is now an assistant
coach at Madison.
Madison will travel to Great
Oak on Jan. 9, when Great Oak hosts a ten-way dual meet for the first
time.
J.P. Santone describes his
current assistant coaches as "all pretty solid." They are assistant
varsity coach Mark Perryman, junior varsity head coach Kelly Cromwell
and freshman head coach John Bonaventura.
"I’m pretty excited
about taking over this program and think it has a lot of potential to
be something big," Santone said. "I’m just very excited to be
in a school of Great Oak’s caliber, coaching there and
teaching there."
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Hawa
ii
POSTED: December 11, 2009
WAILUKU - Wrestlers from 23
Hawaii high schools will hit the mats for the 40th annual Maui
Invitational Wrestling Tournament, which kicks off today at War
Memorial Gym.
Even though Hawaii will be well
represented, this will be the first time in recent memory that there
will be no Mainland teams competing in the event.
''I guess with the economy and
down-sizing, it's had an effect on teams coming to Hawaii,'' Baldwin
coach Malakai Panuve said. ''We're still going to have a lot of good
wrestling.''
Panuve said the girls division
should be particularly tough.
''We've got the Punahou girls,
the defending state champions. They have five returning
state-placers,'' he said. ''Baldwin has a pack of tough girls.
Kamehameha Maui is the defending MIL champions.''
Four-time defending Maui
Interscholastic League champion Lahainaluna looks tough in the boys'
division, according to Panuve.
''Lahainaluna is going to be
the squad to beat this year,'' he said. ''Pac-5 is always a powerhouse
and Damien has some good kids, and of course, Iolani has great
tradition.''
Lahainaluna returns four boys
MIL champions: George Chihara (125 pounds), David Arcangel (135),
Chanse Uyeda (140) and Blake Ball (145). The Lunas also return one
girls champion, Brittany Bermudez-Lynch at 98.
Still, Lahainaluna coach Todd
Hayase said his 55-person team is very young.
''We have so many young
wrestlers. It's going to be exciting, anticipating what they're going
to do,'' Hayase said. ''Like every year, the MIT is a great tournament
to gage where our experienced kids are at. I have no idea what to
expect.''
Punahou state placers include
Erin Uehara (98), Nicole Taniguchi (108), Chrissy Chow (125), Mindy
Chow (130) and Kaimana Lundquist (175). Other state placers in the
tournament include Kazia Lecker (108) of Lahainaluna; Megan Chun (103),
David Terao (120) and Sean Tachibana (130) of Pac-5; Keoni Colson (152)
of Hawaii Prep; Geo Chavez-Pardini (160) of Honokaa; and Marcus Finau
(215) of Damien.
Other teams hitting the mats
are Hana, Hilo, Kamehameha Hawaii, Kealakehe, King Kekaulike,
Konawaena, Lanai, Laupahoehoe, Maui High, Mililani, Molokai, Pahoa,
Roosevelt and St. Anthony.
Weigh-ins will be at 8:30 a.m.,
with wrestling starting at 11 a.m.
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