Wolfgang Horner
Age 16 | School Imperial | Grade 10
Wolfgang Horner is not particularly ponderous. He is, of course, large, but the Imperial High School heavyweight is also cat-quick and surprisingly nimble.
A sophomore on the Tigers’ wrestling team, the precocious Horner has emerged as the premier 285-pounder in the Imperial Valley this season, cementing his status with back-to-back wins over Brawley’s Javier Martinez at the Holtville Rotary Invitational on Feb. 1 (where he was one of two local champions along with teammate Paul Ortiz) and a Brawley-Imperial dual meet last Wednesday.
While, Horner’s win in Holtville was a narrow 2-0 decision, Wednesday’s victory was entirely more emphatic ending in a first-period pin that saw Horner lift his (not small) opponent bodily into the air ahead of what would prove to be the decisive take down. While he may not be physically ponderous, Horner does seem to do a lot of pondering.
He usually pauses to collect his thoughts before answering questions and will ask for clarification when needed. The effect of this is that, when he does answer, his responses are generally full-bodied and thoughtful. This studious approach translates to the mat, where Horner’s success is the result of an endless series of calculations as much as anything else.
“Wrestling is, of course, a strength sport, but a ton of it is technique and thinking,” said Horner. “People don’t realize how much you need to think out there, and how you really need to master your moves. That’s how it is for me. I go in there with a plan, not just saying, ‘ Oh, I’m gonna go in there and beat this guy up.’ No, there’s more to it than that.”
In his matches against Martinez, Horner adopted a defensive posture, looking to counter what he saw as Martinez’s overly aggressive shooting technique. “I don’t know if he thought I didn’t have defense, but I obviously showed that I have defense,” said Horner. Still, Horner feels that if he’s going to get to the level he wants to, he’ll need to polish his offense.
“That’s the only way I’m gonna get better as a wrestler. I think I’m very solid defensively, but I need to find a few more offensive moves for my toolset. If I can do that, I’ll do better at the CIF, Masters and state levels,” he said.
Saturday’s CIF-SDS Division IV finals in Carlsbad is where he’ll be wrestling next. Surveying the field, Horner feels sublimely confident in his ability to take home an individual crown, but is more concerned with helping the Tigers’ defend their team title from last year.
“It’ll definitely be more challenging this time,” he said. “We’re missing some of the key wrestlers who got first or second last year, but hopefully I currently lineup will pull through.”