Lucatero legacy continues at SBHS
In 1991, Jose Lucatero began his freshman year at San Benito
High.
In 2009, Enrique, the youngest brother in the Lucatero
family
– a family with seven boys and two girls – will graduate.
And just like his five brothers who competed before him for the
Balers, Enrique will no doubt leave his mark on the school’s
wrestling program.
Lucatero legacy continues at SBHS
In 1991, Jose Lucatero began his freshman year at San Benito High.
In 2009, Enrique, the youngest brother in the Lucatero family – a family with seven boys and two girls – will graduate.
And just like his five brothers who competed before him for the Balers, Enrique will no doubt leave his mark on the school’s wrestling program.
Why?
Because simply put, he’s a Lucatero – a close-knit family with a wrestling tradition and more overall success on the mat, arguably, than any family in the Central Coast Section or even the state for that matter.
“The Lucateros are the epitome of what wrestling in this town is in a sense,” San Benito High wrestling Coach Matt Olejnik said. “They were born and raised with it. They have all grown up wrestling and that’s what they eat, drink and sleep.”
Although their father Santiago never wrestled, wrestling soon came to the forefront when Jose, the oldest brother, opted to wrestle his freshman year at the high school. By the time he was a junior Jose had finished in second place in the Central Coast Section championships and from that point on, each brother focused on outperforming the next one, in a friendly family rivalry.
“Wrestling is a one-on-one sport. You can’t blame other people for losing and when you win, you get all the credit,” said Eddie Lucatero, who graduated from San Benito High in 1999. “It’s the kind of sport where you can never train enough, and you only need to depend on yourself.”
In 1995, Jose was the first Lucatero to graduate from San Benito High and the next one, Saul, wasn’t far behind him. Saul joined the team roughly about the same time Olejnik took the program over from former head coach Marty Dillon. He graduated in 1998.
As is the tradition at San Benito High, success would breed more success and the Lucateros were a major part of that winning equation.
In the last decade alone, the Balers won six league titles, three CCS championships and have a dozen individual section champs as well as a number of state placers.
As the Olejnik era was getting under way Saul was the first wrestler to help jump-start much of that success.
As a freshman Saul would finish sixth at CCS. The following year he won it, took third his junior year and was second his senior year.
That same year in 1998, Saul took fourth in the state championships. And while his older brother Jose opted to get into construction after graduation, Saul became the first of the brothers to attend college after he was heavily recruited by Moorpark Junior College coach Paul Keysaw, who saw the potential in him.
At Moorpark, which is near Los Angeles, Saul continued to shine on the wrestling mat. In his first season there, he finished third in the state junior college championships and took first the following year before transferring to Menlo College for his final two years.
At Menlo Saul, who now works for the federal government, excelled to the point that he wound up finishing second as a junior and first as a senior in the NAIA national championships.
And just like Jose had set the initial bar by competing in high school, Saul had now moved it a notch higher, paving way for the younger brothers to take it another step further and compete at the college level too.
Eddie was the next Lucatero to follow suit. He also shined in the 140-pound weight class.
Since all of the Lucateros are between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-9 all competed anywhere from 135 to 152 during their high school careers.
During his high school years, Eddie, who works as an assistant coach for the Balers while preparing for a career in law enforcement, finished second in the section his junior year and won a CCS title his senior year – the same year that he finished fifth in the high school state championship.
And just like Saul before him Eddie went on to compete at Moorpark Junior College before wrapping up his career at Menlo.
Eddie’s career at Moorpark mirrored that of his older brother. He finished third his freshman year in the state tournament and won it his sophomore season.
At Menlo, Eddie wasn’t as successful as his older brother, however, but still did well enough to finish fifth his junior year and seventh his senior year at the NAIA nationals.
“Wrestling has made me a better person,” Eddie said. “Because of wrestling I can say that I went to college and graduated, and I have a BA now. It made me who I am.”
The last Lucatero brother to graduate from high school was Octavio. Competing in the 140-pound class his junior and senior years, Octavio finished third at CCS as a junior and took second his senior year before advancing to the state tournament where he took fifth.
Currently, he is at Moorpark where he red-shirted in the 149-pound division this year. As a freshman at Moorpark last year, he finished fourth in the state tournament.
Since the program at Menlo College has gone down hill in terms of national recognition, Octavio is not expected to finish his college career there.
But wherever he does decide to go, it’s a safe bet that the two youngest Lucateros, Fernando, a high school junior, and Enrique, a sophomore, will follow suit.
“All of us have been pretty good at wrestling,” Eddie said. “We all looked up to Jose, and I think we all tried to be better than the guy before. I think we were also good athletes and we were blessed with good genes. Our dad and mom are strong, and we were lucky to find a sport that we were all good at.”
In addition to wrestling, Eddie played strong safety on the Baler football team his freshman year before focusing solely on wrestling. Saul was a running back at San Benito High all four of his high school years. Eventually, both of them decided to dedicate most of their time to wrestling because of their small stature.
“Our bodies are kind of small,” Eddie said. “I realized that I just wasn’t going to waste my time playing football. We’re just not the right size for football.”
But obviously all of the Lucatero brothers are the right size for wrestling. One look at the CCS and state record books show that.
John Bagley can be reached at
jb*****@pi**********.com
.
