Hollister High’s Octavio Lucatero knows the feeling of being
ready to wrestle in the University of Pacific’s Spanos Center, site
of the state High School Wrestling Championships Friday and
Saturday in Stockton.
Hollister High’s Octavio Lucatero knows the feeling one has when one is ready to wrestle in the University of Pacific’s Spanos Center, site of the CIF State 2003 High School Wrestling Championships to be held this Friday and Saturday in Stockton. Lucatero was one match away from placing as a sophomore a year ago, going 3-2.
“I was nervous,” said Lucatero, who along with teammate Brent Kelsey, will be back in Stockton this weekend. “There’s no warning. They call you and you have to be ready to go. You walk out and there are thousands of people looking down on you.”
“It’s going to be a weird feeling,” said Kelsey, who will be making his first appearance at the state meet.
Lucatero qualified for state when he placed second at the Central Coast Section meet at 135 pounds. Kelsey was third at 125 pounds.
All weight classes are tough because the best wrestlers in the state will be on display. Lucatero’s first round opponent is Nick Chen of Mission San Jose in Fremont. Chen took first in the North Coast Section. Kelsey meets Lewis Gonzales of Turlock, first in the Sac-Joaquin Section. Kelsey has a tough draw.
“Brent will have his hands full,” said Hollister wrestling coach Matt Olejnik. “But you never know who has to cut weight. If there’s a time for an upset, it’s in the first round. Brent has a unique style. He’s tough when he’s on top and can be hard to wrestle when you don’t know what to expect.”
Olejnik Lucatero can go aways.
“Octavio has a good chance to win his first two matches,” said Olejnik. “If he does, that would most likely put him against Alex Herrera of Bakersfield. Octavio can do well if he wrestles with the same intensity he’s been wrestling with.”
“I want to place in the top eight,” said Lucatero.
Banner year
Lucatero has had a banner year with a first place at the Arcata Tournament and second place finishes at Alhambra, Turlock, East Bakersfield and MidCal’s. He owes a great deal to his older brothers Eddie and Saul.
“I don’t think I’d be wrestling if it wasn’t for them,” said Octavio. “I used to watch them when they wrestled in high school and they inspired me to wrestle.”
As Baler wrestlers, Eddie placed fifth as a senior at state, while Saul placed fourth. They went on to Moorpark Junior College where they became state champs – Eddie at 157 pounds and Saul at 149 pounds. They won’t be able to watch younger brother Octavio this weekend for they’ll be at the Division III national’s in Montanrepresenting Menlo College.
Octavio started wrestling at the age of seven as a member of the Razorback Wrestling Club.
Kelsey started there too when he was a sixth grader at Calaveras School. He wrestled at Margeruite Maze School, as did Lucatero, and wrestled with Razorback Wrestling, as well.
And like Lucatero, Kelsey got excited about wrestling watching his older brother, Justin.
“I watched Justin when he was wrestling in the ninth grade,” said Brent. “It pumped me up.”
Both wrestlers weren’t too happy with the team’s performance this year, taking seventh in CCS.
“We had a lot of wrestlers bumped up a weight,” said Lucatero. “Plus we had injuries. We could have done better, but considering what happened to us, seventh wasn’t too bad. We have a lot of guys coming back next year.”
Olejnik hopeful
Olejnik hopes either Kelsey or Lucatero or both can place in the top eight.
“We’ve had a two-year dry spell as far as placing,” said Olejnik. “Three years ago Eddie Lucatero and Ben Flores placed.”
And the CCS has to rev it up.
“We had only seven placers last year from CCS,” said Olejnik. “Seven placers out of 42 entrants. That’s not very many.”
Olejnik said that the San Francisco public schools will participate in CCS next year, which means that CCS will send the top four placers to state, instead of the current three. Oakland has only six schools which wrestle and they’ll participate in the North Coast Section meet, adding an extra qualifier there.
Next year, the state meet moves to Centennial Garden and Convention Center in Bakersfield and is contracted through 2006. The main purpose is that the Spanos Center’s seating capacity of 6,100 has been outgrown. Centennial Garden has a capacity of 9,446.
Another note: Debra Ruiz of Hollister was supposed to wrestle an exhibition at the state meet. However, Olejnik has not been contacted by the state office, which apparently has opted not to have Ruiz wrestle there for some reason.
