With a nearly undefeated record (16-1), the varsity wrestling team finished their season at the CIF State Wrestling Championship held from Feb. 27 to March 1.

“It was a really cool experience, it was my second time going [to states], and we brought up five of us as a team, which is the best we’ve ever done in school history,” senior captain and two-time state qualifier Jacob Cava (12) said. “We had one girl go, Ruby Julien-Newsom, and she made it all the way to the state finals, so it was really cool watching the team progress, and being a senior, seeing some of the younger guys grow [as well].”

Cava (106-lbs) lost in the Round of 64 of the championship bracket to Samuel Sanchez from Esperanza High School. He then won two matches in consolation (against Antonio Garaventa from Windsor High School and Caleb Cisneros from Selma High School) before losing in the consolation of 16 #2 to Julius Villamil from Poway High School.

“I was definitely feeling nervous, but I was confident that all the hard work that I put in would pay off and then I was successful enough,” Cava said. 
”I won two matches while at state and then I lost two. My first round was against the number one seed and he was a world champion.”

Placing fifth as a team at the CIF San Diego Section Masters with six placers, four wrestlers qualified for states from the boys team— Cava , Mahiro Okazaki (12), Jake Sakofsky (12) and Carter Bolt (11) — the most in program history. Ruby Julien-Newsom (12) also qualified for states after winning the SDS Masters.

Bolt, 120-lbs; Sakofsky, 144-lbs; and Okazaki, 165-lbs, lost in their first rounds of the championship against Rocklin Zinkin from Buchanan High School, Vince Partington from Cypress High School and Travis Grace from Gilroy High School, respectively. 

“I wasn’t really nervous,” Okazaki said. “I was actually pretty excited, because I was wrestling in an arena, so it was just a really cool environment. I didn’t really have any pressure, just [went] there to have fun.”

Julien-Newsom advanced to the finals against Samantha Sachs from Glendora High School and ranked second in the state. The school placed 89th overall out of 233 schools for boys, and 37th out of 265 schools for girls.

“It was definitely a long postseason,” Cava said. “A lot of us had a bunch of injuries and were sick getting to playoffs so [in preparation for the CIF state tournament] we kind of reflected on what we needed to improve and instead of having longer harder practices, we would have shorter, more intense practices and the coaches would focus more on our individual needs, rather than the team as a whole.”

Senior captain Sakofsky added on.

“A lot of team bonding and just mentally preparing, touching up on those small things, perfecting your game as much as you can before you’re going is also a huge part of [the preparation],” Sakofsky said.

According to Sakofsky, the team’s goal was to advance to the state championships.

“To get to state you have to place in the top four in the county, and there are some tough schools … so we could really just let it all fly and just see what happens at state,” Sakofsky said. “Nothing holding us back, no goals that we had to live up to.” 

While as a team state was the ultimate goal, some wrestlers went into the tournament carrying more specific, individual goals.

“Ruby wanted to be a state champion and we pushed her really hard to get there, she took everything, every instance we had to train her and every instance she had to train on her own, she took it and that’s why she placed second in state,” Head Coach Michael Bigrigg said. “Jacob Cava wanted to get in the top 8 and he was about a hair away, he was really close to beating the Poway kid, and that kid placed in state … I think Jacob probably would have gotten on the podium if he would’ve won that really close match. It was tied and then in the third period Jacob just kind of went through a big move and got caught.”

The athletes experienced bonding moments amidst the three-day tournament.

“After our matches, we went out to eat and we also went to a Pokemon store nearby,” Okazaki said. “We just all opened packs.”

Traditions and rituals are another way their team cohesion is strengthened. 

“At the end of the tournament they do the medal ceremonies, and for CIF, we say three ‘hip hip hoorays’ for every single medalist, and the other teams think it’s really obnoxious, but we have fun with it,” Cava said.

Prior to this year, there was basically “one wrestler [that qualifies for state] a year at most,” according to Bigrigg.

“Winning the match that made me qualify for states [was the most memorable moment] because that’s kind of been my goal for the last four years,” Okazaki said. “I was really close last year but I fell short and so winning that match kind of meant a lot to me.”

Cava, senior captain Joshua Preske (12) and Sakofsky all remarked on defeating La Costa Canyon High School on Jan. 23 for the first time in program history as their most memorable moment of the season. 

“Great performances by everybody … it was such a close match,” Sakofsky said. “So amped, it was insane.” 

According to Bigrigg, “being able to pick yourself up after [a loss]” and “instead of being frustrated, [learning] from [it] and [moving] forward” is the most challenging part, but something the team “did really well this year.”

While wrestling may seem like an individual sport due to the varying outcomes per athlete, team chemistry is “the essential part in making a good wrestling team,” according to Cava.

“You’d think we compete individually, but during practice, your effort fully depends on your partner’s effort, so it’s really up to me and my wrestling partner to keep the motivation and the intensity going,” Cava said. “So if anything, it’s more of a duo and a team sport to get to where we need on an individual basis.”

Bigrigg agreed. 

“On the surface it seems like an individual sport and you compete individually, but you can’t go anywhere without a team … these wrestlers, they were completely dedicated to each other as a team, and we as coaches push the team aspect over everything else,” Bigrigg said. “We want Ruby to take second in state, we want Jacob to be on the podium at state, place at state, but we want that so that the team does well.”