The FUHS boys wrestling team competed in the Elks Jaguar Classic on Jan. 25 when junior Jonah Moreno finished in first place and senior Alan Sandoval placed third. However, during the last half of the tournament in his final match for third place, Sandoval fractured his arm, leaving him at risk of missing CIF qualifiers for his senior season.
“I went to the doctors and they’ve said that it’s a fracture which takes four to six weeks just to stabilize,” Sandoval said. “I was really disappointed. It was my last match and I won it too, but that’s how my season ends. I just had one more [match].”
Despite the injury, Sandoval won five of his six matches and finished the tournament in third place. The senior recalls a similar situation with one of his teammates the previous season and how it impacted the team.
“Landon [MacGill], got hurt last year at conference finals,” Sandoval said. “Seeing him [get hurt] crushed me, because he wasn’t able to wrestle the way he wanted to. It hurt to see because he was such a strong guy who gave that untouchable kind of feeling.”
In the face of disappointment, Sandoval said that support from his team continues to keep him strong, and that he will carry this same responsibility when he cheers his teammates on at Conference Finals.
“Sometimes you kind of give up on yourself, but you have to remember everybody is behind you on this and everybody’s still supporting you,” Sandoval said. “They still have a wave of support. Even people you wouldn’t consider yourself super close to, just people from school, and a lot of little things keep you going.”
Alongside the boys top places in competitive meets, the girls team has had some of its own individuals win matches such as senior Jessica Sanchez, who won her match at dual meet against Costa Mesa on Jan. 21 with a pin—a skill Sanchez said she has been working on in practice this entire season.
Her signature cradle move was also essential for her victory. Sanchez has dedicated entire practices to improving key moves in preparation for Conference Finals.
“If I win, more than likely it’s by a cradle. So my friends call me the Cradle Queen because that’s, like, all I do,” Sanchez said.
“We’re mainly focusing on skill right now, and re-finding the things that we already know we are comfortable with. We’re not learning any new techniques, we’re just getting stronger,” Sanchez said.
According to Sanchez, wrestling practices tend to maintain a standard routine where they check all the boxes needed to prepare for a match. They start with drilling, which means they repeat specific moves and techniques with a partner to build muscle memory and skill. The team is then put into groups of three where two of the group members will wrestle, and the loser of the dual steps out while the third group member jumps in to replace them. Finally, the team transitions to conditioning to improve their strength and endurance.
Since the girls wrestling team has only 10 wrestlers, Sanchez says that there is an added pressure to stay healthy and strong as they prepare for upcoming conference and post season matches.
“This is the time that we need to be focused. We need to make sure we’re eating healthy. Right now [our coaches] are focusing on our health and making sure our mentality is strong,” Sanchez said. “Because there are so few of us, if one of us messes up, it’s a big deal.”
Wrestling is a primarily individual sport, meaning the entire girls team cannot qualify for CIF. Individual wrestlers can qualify if they finish in the top eight spots at Conference Finals. In particular, advancing to CIF this season means more to Sanchez than previous seasons.
“I have made it [to CIF] before. My first year I didn’t go because some family things were in the way. Then last year I gave up my spot to one of the seniors,” Sanchez said. “This year I’m not gonna let anything get in the way.”
The wrestling team has Conference Finals on Feb. 7, where the top eight individuals will advance to the CIF Championships. Fullerton is part of the Empire League which includes Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, Garden Grove, Laguna Hills, Santa Ana, Tustin, Valencia, and Westminster, making this a highly competitive match since there are nine schools and only eight individual qualifying spots.
