As If waking up before the sun even comes out is not tough enough for a group of high schoolers, try it paired with a hardcore workout of running hills at 6 a.m.
After all was said and done Wednesday night, the Carson High Wrestling team agreed that its easy 57-17 victory over North Valleys High School was due to its early "Guts workouts."
Carson coach Tyson Thivierge said he was pleased with Wednesday's perforrmance. "We started out slow but got the ball rolling," he said.
Senior Todd Banko was up first for the Senators as he pulled out a 10-5 win in his 130 pound match. Although the win added three points to the overall team score, there was no doubt it was a rough match.
"Todd is tough as nails, but tonight his gas tank was just on E," Thivierge said. "He always has great intensity though."
At 152 pounds for Carson, Martin Azzam defeated Mitch VanRonk in the closest match of the evening when an exciting second period gave Azzam the edge to come out with a 8-5 win. Junior Valadarez, Trent Simpson, and Patrick Craugh snatched up a total of 18 points for the Senators coming from forfeit wins.
A few quick Carson pins were contributed by 215 pounder Garrett Truesdale in 38 seconds and in 1:04 from Sophomore Nick Schlager at 112 pounds. The quickest fall of the night was from Ricky Urgarte who Immediately took down opponent Daniel Villareal and pinned him in only 26 seconds.
Sophomore Adam Welch demonstrated his dedication when he not only won his 135 pound bout in 4:46, but then stepped up to the mat again. Welch competed in a second exibition match where he pinned another North Valleys wrestler in a faster time of 3:09.
The mood was much more enjoyable compared to the past week after tough outings against Damonte Ranch and at the Zinkin Invitational in Clovis, Calif., which gave the Carson Senators wrestling team a good reason to smile. Even Thivierge joked around with his wrestlers as he yelled to Valadarez, "Nice haircut," refeerring to the trim Thivierge gave to some of the team Tuesday. Banko smiled and chimmed in, "It was the haircut that slowed me down tonight."
Carson will go down to Las Vegas for its next tournment on Friday.