By STEFAN MODRICH, Staff Writer
LOS FRESNOS — Los Fresnos appears to be peaking at exactly the right time, as the District 16-6A meet hosts roll into today’s competition at the Los Fresnos United dome on a hot streak.
Matches are slated to begin at 7 a.m.
The Falcons won the Gator Roll Duals on Jan. 11 at Grulla and finished second in the Sharyland Grapefruit Invitational on Jan. 18.
“They’ve all put in the work, they’ve all done well,” Los Fresnos coach Kevin Nguyen said. “It’s been a learning experience every tournament and every match they go through.”
Wrestlers to watch for today include seniors Roman Rodriguez at 120 pounds, Fabian Sosa at 126, Edgar Sauceda at 132, Kevin Ponce at 138 and Leeroy Guerrero checking in at 220 pounds.
Rodriguez and Sosa are among the team’s most vocal leaders, and spar most often due to their similar builds. They emphasized that they feel more ready for district than they were at this time last year, a byproduct of the experience and time spent conditioning in the offseason. Each dropped six pounds to move down one weight class from where they began competing at the beginning of the season.
“Definitely, this time around we are better prepared about knowing how to cut weight,” Sosa said.
For Rodriguez and Guerrero, the biggest difference was maturity, and the ability to read and react to moves in real time based on studying opponents’ moves and learning how to counter them.
“You do that in practice, and the outcome (improves) in the match,” Rodriguez said.
Guerrero also made a significant push to drop down from his football playing weight of 285 pounds.
In a sport where some of the hardest sacrifices are the result of mental and dietary discipline, and extra workouts that can take place in solitude, camaraderie in practice becomes all the more important.
“We encourage each other, we work together,” Rodriguez said. “We lift each other up, pick each other up whenever we fall down. … A lot of us have matured more and grown more and gotten comfortable with each other, and we’ve executed well in the matches.”
The culture of accountability and a sense of shared pride in one another is something Nguyen has helped instill in his athletes during his third season leading the Falcons.
“As a team, they’re like a family: one kid wins and it pumps the next kid up,” Nguyen said. “They have almost a friendly rivalry against each other. … You’re going to work every day to make sure they get better and you get better.”