C-M picked to repeat

Nick Christensen

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2003 | 9:46 a.m.

The ancient Spartans were known throughout Greece for their athletic prowess, especially in wrestling. The modern Spartans have the same reputation, at least in Las Vegas.

Ask any coach in Las Vegas who this year's favorite is, and you will probably get the same answer.

"Cimarron, Cimarron, Cimarron," Cheyenne coach Mike Abrams said. "They have a great coaching staff, and a great youth wrestling program."

"You can probably give them the trophy right now," Green Valley's Aric Thomas said.

Durango coach Mark Azevedo explained: "If you had the number one wrestlers out of all 14 weights, they've got five to seven of all 14 best wrestlers."

In fact, in the 14 weight categories, Cimarron-Memorial had state champions in four of them and runners-up in two more, at last January's state finals. Three state champions return for Cimarron this year.

The Spartans' wrestling prowess comes in part from a youth program run by the coaches. The youth program, said Cimarron coach Mike Garcia, helps incoming freshmen better adapt to the high school game.

"They've got that experience before they ever hit the mat," Garcia said. "They're familiar with what we're trying to do with what we're doing at the high school level. But even last year, out of our 14 kids, eight of those 14 kids never wrestled before high school. So it's not all that. It's a lot of things."

Things like participating in regional and national tournaments in the offseason help prepare the Spartans for the grind of the season.

"We work extremely hard and we expect them to get better," Garcia said. "We put pressure on them and expect them to perform at the end of the year, and they get used to it. Everything else is getting them ready."

Just as it is a near-unanimous opinion that Cimarron leads the pack, there is also a consensus that Las Vegas senior Chris Gifford is the best individual wrestler in Las Vegas.

Gifford, however, may not wrestle during the high school season after breaking his leg late in the football season as the starting quarterback for the Wildcats. He remains in a cast and has said he will not make it back until the latter part of the wrestling schedule at best. Gifford already accepted a wrestling scholarship from Fresno State, where his older brothers, Eddie and Greg, both wrestled.

Cimarron's Chase Pami and Justin Orians, Green Valley's Matt Conte, and Centennial's Angelo Antuna also figure to be key players this season.

But the biggest question is, who can compete with Cimarron?

"Centennial will give Cimarron a run for their money. They've got some good kids in some good places," Durango's Azevedo said. "Mojave has got a lot of young kids that are really good. They could be right there."