Wrestling faced off against Mt. Diablo High School in a varsity competition on December 14. After a series of long matches, the Cougars claimed the team victory 46-33, winning 7 out of the 11 individual matches.

“This was a really tough fight. Mt. Diablo was a very good team. This was definitely the most intense competition of the year, and I’m really proud of the team for pulling through,” said coach Sam Sotello.

The competition did not start out well for Campolindo however. Freshman Noah Hamann grappled with his opponent through 3 rounds. Just before time expired, the Mt. Diablo wrestler earned a point and stole the win.

Campolindo was forced to forfeit the 2nd match due to a weigh-in issue.

Sophomore Keichi Serrano pinned his opponent to get the Cougars back on track. Junior Adrian Bautista followed with another 2nd-round pin in his contest.

Mt. Diablo countered with 2 consecutive match wins of their own. According to Serrano, “At this point it seemed like we were going to lose- they had won 4 matches, we’d only won 2. Our spirits were down, but luckily we still pushed on.”

Sophomore John Reyna unexpectedly pin his opponent just 45 seconds into his 1st round, boosting the morale of his team.

Campolindo went on to win the remaining 3 contests. Junior Rex Chen managed to pin his opponent in just 30 seconds. At the beginning of the match, Chen hurled himself at his opponent and threw him on his stomach. Then, he flipped him onto his back, pinning him and winning the match.

Senior Sava Vayatkyn represented Campolindo in the final heavyweight match. While the two wrestlers were fighting for an advantage, Vayatkyn taunted his opponent in Russian. He pinned his adversary in the 2nd round to seal the team victory.

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