For the second consecutive year, the Hollister Warriors Wrestling Club took home a pair of state championships at the California USA Wrestling Kids Freestyle State Championship on Saturday in Fresno.
Overall, the Warriors finished with nine wrestlers in the top six of their respected divisions.
Xavier Rogers, wrestling in the intermediate boys’ 9-10-year-old, 103-pound division, won his first tournament championship. It took Rogers only seven months to win his first title. Rogers joined the club earlier this year with no wrestling experience.
In the state championship, Rogers was dominant, winning every match with a pin.
“It’s an unbelievable story with that kid,” Warriors head coach Kelly St. John said. “It’s very special. He came to us with nothing. We have been really surprised. This is the first sport he has played.”
Over the last seven months, Rogers lost more than 30 pounds and went from a green wrestler to one of the program’s best, St John said.
“In terms of wrestling, he was having a really hard time,” St John said. “Then all of a sudden he turned a corner and started to believe in himself. It’s remarkable what he has done.”
Saul Gonzalez won the Warriors’ second state title in the novice boys 11-12-year-old, 80-pound division. It was a victory that was a long time coming for Gonzalez, who has been wrestling for years.
“He came so close so many times,” St. John said. “It was nice to see him finally get rewarded for all the hard work he has put in.”
Gonzalez’s only tough match was the day’s first. Overcoming a deficit, Gonzalez pinned Cleveland Belton from Santa Ana. Afterward, Gonzalez never trailed and won the state title with an 11-0 decision in the final over Jonathan Viveros of Kingsburg.
Hollister’s Vincent Jacinto took second place in his novice boy 11-12, 85-pound division, falling in the title match. Other top finishers included Mateo Morales (bantam boys and girls, 70 pounds; fourth place), Victor Jacinto (intermediate, 75 pounds; fourth place), Khader Yasin (intermediate, 87 pounds; sixth place), Noah Zaragoza (novice, 65 pounds; sixth place), Gabriel Morales (novice, 140 pounds; fourth place) and Michael Zaragoza (schoolboy 13-14 years old, 120 pounds; third place).
The season ends for the Warriors at the West Region Championship in Pocatello, Idaho from June 17 to the 22. The team will compete in freestyle and Greco-Roman against Wrestlers from 11 states, including Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
