Las Vegas repeats as wrestling champs

Spencer Patterson

Monday, Feb. 18, 2002 | 9:54 a.m.

Joe LaRocco might have had the best seat in the house for Saturday night's 4A State Wrestling Championships, but it was the last place the Las Vegas High coach wanted to be.

Ejected for a double-equipment violation during the consolation round earlier in the day, LaRocco found himself watching the night's proceedings on closed-circuit television in principal Barry Gunderson's office.

And while the setup allowed the Wildcat coach to zoom the camera in on title matches and follow his wrestlers' progress up close, LaRocco would have given anything to be in his usual chair on the corner of the mat.

"I probably saw better than people in the gym did, but it was tough," LaRocco said. "You want to be there with the kids. You bond with them for three or four years and you don't get to be with them for their final match. But the kids did what they had to do."

Indeed, as LaRocco watched on his TV set, his squad closed out its second straight state team championship, posting 130 points, to second-place Palo Verde's 108.

"It felt great to repeat, especially because there was a little more pressure on the kids this year," LaRocco said.

Earlier in the day, with his squad leading the competition, LaRocco found himself being asked to leave his home gymnasium by tournament officials.

Two of his wrestlers -- 140-pounder Josh Gaskins and 145-pounder Russell Duke -- had been penalized for not properly taping their shoelaces to their shoes before their consolation matches. The two incidents occurred simultaneously on adjacent mats, with the end result costing the Wildcats two team points and their head coach for the rest of the night.

"It's a really ridiculous rule," LaRocco said. "Both of those kids lost in the round before that one and they were still disappointed, and (their shoelaces) aren't foremost on their mind."

Stunned, but still confident his team would come out on top, LaRocco took in the consolation and championship finals from Gunderson's office.

He watched with pride as brothers Chris and Greg Gifford captured back-to-back individual titles at 171 and 189 pounds. "It feels great," Greg Gifford said after capping off the brothers' 8-0 tournament sweep. "We train together every day, and now we know we're the best in the state."

LaRocco also watched in dismay as senior Evan Ellsworth dropped a heartbreaking 8-7 decision to Reno's Travis Longobardo in the 160-pound final after it appeared Ellsworth had earned the winning takedown in the match's closing seconds.