Campolindo’s Wrestling team placed 3rd at the North Coast Section (NCS) tournament on February 4, within the D2 Dual Team Competition for the first time in over a decade.

“To put it into perspective, one of our assistant coaches, that was his senior year when [the team last] got 3rd,” said team captain, senior Chase Yang. “[The competition] went fantastic. Honestly, I think that was my favorite tournament out of every single other tournament because I’ve had tournaments that I won individually, but winning as a team is just so much more fun.”

Team captain, junior Natalia Kalas said, “We’re extremely excited and elated. We hadn’t won something at NCS for over a decade because of changes in leadership positions, but we were just extremely happy, we screamed afterwards. And it was just such a congratulatory time for us.”

Wrestler, junior Gavin Juni described placing 3rd at NCS as a “comeback.” He said, “You could definitely tell through our coaches that we didn’t perform our best at our previous meets, and so to have made it that far and to have placed at NCS is a pretty good feeling.”

Yang attributed the win to “work ethic, keeping each other accountable, really grinding hard during the practices, and also just loving the entire thing, like loving the sprints, loving the runs, loving your opponents because they’re the reason why you’re there and why you compete.”

The team did many bonding activities prior to the tournament, which “really helps out with your mental confidence, what’s going on in your head is one of the most important things when it comes to wrestling,” said Juni.

Campo Wrestling beat Concord and Livermore Wrestling, two teams that they had lost to in previous years. For preparation to take on Concord Wrestling, Yang said, “We watched [them] before a duel match. We watched their tendencies, we watched their tactics… so that was fantastic, being conquered [last year] and avenging that [this year].”

Campo Wrestling is now heading into Diablo Athletic League (DAL) Individual Tournaments.

Yang added, “This is a team effort…There’s a saying that wrestling is an individual sport, but to get that placement title, to get 3rd at NCS, it was a team effort. Everyone was responsible for that and had a part in that.”