In a season that’s been a constant eb and flow of good and bad, the wrestling squad expects its young team full of freshmen and sophomores to continue growing, starting with Friday’s Mid Cal Tournament in Gilroy.
Head coach Brian DeCarli doesn’t necessarily expect his team to compete for the two-day tournament title with some of the state’s best squads. Instead he hopes to see some improvement and small victories from his young team.
“We are just looking for everyone to get better each time they go out there,” he said. “Right now, that’s what this team is about. We just want to improve a little bit at a time.”
DeCarli expects to have one wrestler, Rob Rodriguez, ranked going into the tournament, but DeCarli realizes the rest of his team will need to pull some upsets.
“Everyone needs to be at their best,” he said. “Our goal is to have everyone advance and wrestle Saturday.”
Rodriguez, who placed fourth as a sophomore last year, is most likely the Balers’ best bet to finish strong. But Rodriguez, who was called a team leader at the beginning of the year, has been limited because of injuries.
“He has battled through some things the last few weeks,” DeCarli said. “He should be fine though.”
Despite the team’s overall struggles so far this year, DeCarli has seen some dramatic improvement from a few of his wrestlers – mostly Ricardo Sosa.
Sosa entered the year raw, but has gotten better each week and now places in the top four at nearly every tournament, DeCarli said.
“He has gotten a lot better,” he said. “He gets better every time.”
Friday, the Balers hope to improve from last week’s showing at the Bert Mar Tournament at Christopher High.
San Benito placed fourth overall, with five wrestlers finishing in the top four at their weight.
At 126 pounds, Toby Sherman finished in second place after losing to Kyle Young of Westmont 10-4. Tim Castillo also finished in second place, this time in the 170-pound division, after falling to San Jose’s Douglas Medrano 4-0.
Despite the good finishes, DeCarli hopes the team continues to improve and not get complacent.
“I’ve said this before, you learn more from losing than you do winning,” he said. “We haven’t won a lot, but we continue to get better. Our goal is to get better and that’s where we are at this point.”
The Mid Cals begin in Gilroy at 4 p.m. If the Balers advance, the second round continues Saturday. The tournament is expected to go all day starting at 9 a.m
