Tasty gruel

Spencer Patterson

Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2002 | 9:21 a.m.

So you're thinking about checking out this weekend's 4A state meet at Las Vegas High, but you're not sure what you'll be watching? Here are some wrestling basics that should shed some light on the mat happenings.

Dual meet: Pits one school against another, with wrestlers acquiring team points in a series of head-to-head matches.

Tournament: Wrestlers score points for their teams by advancing through the draw and competing for top individual finishes.

Weight classes: Wrestlers compete according to weight, and must weigh in before events to qualify in their class. Nevada's weight classes are: 103, 112, 119, 125, 130, 135, 140, 145, 152, 160, 171, 189, 215, 275.

Format: Matches are broken into three two-minute timed periods, with ties broken in overtime sessions.

Individual scoring: Escape, 1 point (go from bottom position to neutral); takedown, 2 points (take opponent from neutral position to mat and gain control on top); reversal, 2 points (go from bottom to top position); near fall, 2 or 3 points (put opponent on his back and hold his shoulder past a 90 angle to the mat for 2-count (or 5-count, for 3 points). Penalty points may also be awarded by the referee for violations.

Pin: A match ends when a wrestler's shoulders are taken to the mat for at least a one count.

Team scoring: In a dual meet, 6 points are awarded for a pin, 5 for a technical fall (win by 15 or more), 4 for a major decision (8-14 point win) and 3 for a decision (1-7 point win).

And some advice from Durango coach Mark Azevedo: "I tell people to go to one wrestling match and sit with somebody who knows what's going on. I guarantee you'll be hooked."

-- Spencer Patterson

To the average teenage boy, the word "wrestling" conjures images of masked men leaping off the tops of ropes and shaking their fists at cameras.

A select few, however, consider wrestling a most serious endeavor -- one of the most physically challenging interscholastic high school sports.

Compared with the entertainment version, competitive wrestling receives virtually no television exposure, depriving youngsters of a chance to learn about it as they would other sports, from football to tennis.

What some do know about wrestling is often enough to keep them away: that it requires remarkable endurance, that it can demand a strict diet (and sometimes weight loss) and that it will ultimately have them grappling with another male in close quarters, a stigma that some teenagers find hard to overcome.

Yet local participation in high school wrestling remains solid, a credit to the sport's demanding one-on-one physical confrontations and the family-like atmosphere created by its devoted followers.

"I always say, 'Once a wrestler, always a wrestler,' " Durango coach Mark Azevedo said. "Even if you only come out for one season, you understand what wrestlers go through and there's a bond. We all understand it. We're all part of it."

Area coaches say the vast majority of their wrestlers have little or no experience in the sport before coming to their first practice.

Joe LaRocco, coach at defending state champion Las Vegas High, estimates that only two in 10 wrestlers at his school have competed previously, most at local youth tournaments or in an occasional physical education unit.

So how do LaRocco and his fellow coaches fill out their lineups? First and foremost, they look to their schools' football program.

After the fall season, many football coaches encourage athletes to improve their stamina and conditioning in the wrestling room.

"There's no better sport for football than wrestling," Rancho wrestling coach Chuck Diller said. "They go hand in hand."

A number of the area's top football stars, most notably linebackers and linemen who compete in the mid-to-upper weight classes, also are among the top local wrestlers.

"I think wrestling goes real well with football, especially for a lineman," said Durango's Luke Doty, an all-state football player and a top contender in the 275-pound (heavyweight) division. "It helps you stay low in your stance, it keeps you in shape and it helps with speed and endurance."

It should come as no surprise, then, that a school's success in one sport often coincides with its success in the other. For example, Cimarron-Memorial won back-to-back titles in both sports from 1998-2000 and Las Vegas followed last year's state wrestling win with a state football championship in the fall.

"The football kids are real physical. They like hitting people and throwing people down," said LaRocco, whose starting varsity boasts three members off the football title team: Greg Gifford, Evan Ellsworth and David Hales.

Still, football players alone are not enough to fill a program, particularly at the lower weights. So area coaches hit the hallways, keeping their eyes open for potential combatants.

"I talk to a lot of kids in the hallways and if I see a big kid or a physical kid, I'll ask them to try it once and see what they think," LaRocco said. "But you've got to be tough to do it. It's not for everyone."

Daniel Goodwin, a sophomore at Rancho, swam and played tennis as a ninth grader. On the advice of swimming teammate Billy Rosado -- also a state champion on the mat -- Goodwin joined the Rams' wrestling team this winter.

"It was rough at first, but I'm not a quitter so I said I would tough the season out," said Goodwin, who went 25-15 as Rancho's starting varsity 103-pounder and became a true believer in the sport.

"It's hard, but you get in shape like nothing else," he said. "It also gives you discipline, which makes it worth it. And you get a bond with your teammates because you've gone through such intense training and you've done it together."

Family affair

In talking to wrestling people, the "bond" Goodwin referred to comes up often. It extends from the athletes and coaches on the mat to the fans in the stands.

"It's really like a close-knit family," said Ed Gifford, a Las Vegas High parent and longtime youth wrestling coach. "The crowd is very together. We compete as a state here."

That cohesive atmosphere seems perfectly natural when one considers the sport's many family ties.

No fewer than six current head coaches have coached their sons, including Matt Azevedo, who won two Nevada state titles with father Mark, then spent his senior year working with his uncle John, coach of California power Calvary Chapel.

Matt went on to wrestle at Arizona State and Iowa State. His brother, Aaron, and his father wrestled in high school. His uncle was an NCAA champion and a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team.

"It's an extremely family oriented sport," Mark Azevedo said. "If you see your older brother do it, you want to do it."

Ed Gifford has three wrestling sons, Greg and Chris -- two of the current Wildcats' top stars -- and Eddie, a former Nevada state champion now wrestling for Fresno State. Ed and his wife, Kathy, work with USA Wrestling, and Ed continues to coach the Junior National Team.

"They're a very supportive family," LaRocco said. "And it's the whole wrestling community. There's a certain feeling there you don't find anywhere else."

Of course, when it comes to local wrestling families, any discussion must include the Medinas. Under the supervision of Rancho coach Chuck Diller and father Al, the five Medina brothers have produced nine Nevada state titles.

Jered, the youngest, will try to bring the total to an even 10 this weekend, when he looks to close out his senior year with his third individual championship. As that day draws closer, brothers Andre, Tony, Jesse and Josh will descend on their father's house, where the group will hone Jered's skills on the mat in their garage.

"It's nice because my older brothers pitch in to help me out," Jered Medina said. "And I try to pass on some skills to the younger guys (on my team)."

After watching his sons compete for the Rams for the past 12 seasons, father Al looks forward to Jered's final match.

"We talk about it all the time," Al Medina said. "It's the end of the dynasty...and vacation time for me."

But before he leaves the gym for the last time, the eldest Medina has a final warning, one that had better be taken seriously in local wrestling circles.

"We do have grandsons coming up."

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