BY NATHANIEL MATA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
Coach Richard Eckley has been a part of Sharyland Pioneer wrestling since the school opened in 2014. At events like Friday and Saturday’s Sharyland ISD All-Valley Wrestling Championships, he gets to see his work pay off. His boys took the team title, and competitive matches were frequent throughout the tournament.
“Honestly, it shows the support for the sport that Sharyland ISD has,” Eckley said. “It really took not only the whole school, but the whole school district to put something this big together. It shows how much they care about our kids and about sports and about competition and about doing this right.”
Pioneer’s wrestlers earned 493 points — 86 points better than second-place Rio Grande City and 95 more than third place Los Fresnos.
Eckley entered a wrestler in each of the 14 boys weight classes and fielded a junior varsity team that also had strong performances.
Four of his varsity squad medaled, and Brandon Pritchard competed as part of the JV program but also medaled, reaching the 152 championship match. Dominique Rodriguez was the lone gold medalist, winning the 182 championship.
“We keep having kids show up that are willing to work hard. When I started, when we first opened the school, we had five kids that had ever wrestled before,” Eckley, an Iowa native, said. “We entered 34 boys and five girls into the tournament today.”
Rio Grande City advanced four wrestlers to championship matches, with three walking away victorious. One of those was sophomore Elias Sanchez, who improves to 17-3 at 113 with his victory over Sharyland High’s Abraham Flores.
Rio Grande City and Edinburg High tied for the most pins in the tournament, with 23 each.
The tournament included 174 boys and 87 girls competing for local supremacy, with only a handful of Valley wrestling teams missing.
On the girls side of the field, the La Joya High Coyotes entered 13 wrestlers and claimed the tournament championship, building confidence moving forward.
The Coyotes scored 362.5 points, ahead of Edinburg North and Edinburg Economedes, which had 265 and 235 points, respectively. La Joya amassed 26 pins over the two days.
La Joya coach Christopher Hernandez pointed toward effort, no matter the round, as an ingredient to consistent success.
“They’ve been working hard,” Hernandez said. “No matter how they are doing in the match, they’re going to keep pushing through to the end. Whether it’s the third round or the first, they’re going to keep fighting the way they would if it was a championship match.”Coyotes wrestlers went five for five in championship matches. Hernandez said teaching them new moves has been essential to making sure the opposition doesn’t catch up or study his squad’s tactics
“We teach the girls a lot of different moves so their opponent will never know what’s coming,” Hernandez said. “They don’t just rely on one move. They’ll be able to mix it up. No matter what situation they’re in, they’re going to keep coming with something different.”
La Joya High’s Jacqueline Beltran was a champion at 110. Beltran won by pin only 41 seconds into her match against Idahni Barrera from Rio Grande City. She mentioned the coaching staff ramping up the intensity as a part of the team’s success.
“Our coach has been kicking our butt, going so hard on us,” Beltran, the sophomore who owns a 13-4 record on the season, said. “Every time we wrestle, we go in there with the energy that we can win this. We’re going to do this. We’re here to win.”
Two undefeated wrestlers faced off in the 148 championship, and McAllen Memorial’s Amanda Alvarado outlasted Edinburg Economedes’s Kassandra Castillo in a 7-2 decision.
Alvarado was ranked 9th in the state coming into the tournament, while Castillo was ranked first.
The Mustangs senior improved to 26-0 on the year. She said she watched Castillo’s matches to learn her tendencies.
“I’ve been going to the past few tournaments and watching how she wrestles, so scouting,” Alvarado said. “Once you know someone’s game, you can adjust yourself to their game. As long as you can stay humble, you’re good. I was raised you don’t underestimate anybody, anybody can always surprise you.”
Wrestling is approaching district season. The District 16-5A Meet will take place at Rio Grande City on Feb. 9, while the 16-6A meet will take place at McAllen Memorial High School on Feb. 10-11.