De La Torre’s aggressiveness paying off
Accomplishments: Robert De La Torre is on a mission.
The Tokay High wrestler, a senior who competes in the 195pound class, is off to a good start in the preseason. Last weekend, De La Torre had an eighth place finish, with a 3-2 record, at the two-day Riddle Tournament at Oakdale High.
The challenge of competing at this tournament that Oakdale High has been hosting for more than three decades, is a plus De La Torre.
“Much more tougher tournament,” De La Torre said. “More schools, more higher-ranked caliber wrestlers. It’s an overall tougher tournament. I could’ve done way better, but some injuries. But I toughed it out.”
After suffering his first loss of the season — an 8-7 decision — De La Torre won his next matches. In the match he lost, De La Torre led by four points before his opponent rallied late in the match to post the come-from-behind win.
“After my first loss, I was real down,” De La Torre said. “It was a real close match.”
For the season, De La Torre has a 6-2 record. Three of his wins came at the third annual Rod Gaines Invitational at The Jungle on Dec. 7. He went 3-0 to win the title in his weight class.
“It was a big accomplishment because it was our first tournament of the season,” De La Torre said. “I just knew that I had to do well. Taking first was a real confidence booster.”
Back on Nov. 1, De La Torre was part of the Tokay High football team as an offensive tackle/defensive end, After the season ended, De La Torre went straight to the school’s wrestling room to prepare for the season.
“Football trained me how to be more aggressive, be a team player,” De La Torre said. “I got much stronger with football.”
Conditioning for wrestling is challenging than it is for football, De La Torre pointed out.
“Wrestling, you really need conditioning to have an edge,” De La Torre said. “Football, you don’t do much conditioning; probably a mile in a week. In wrestling, we run a mile a day.”
De La Torre has two moves that can be count on when he’s looking to pin his opponent — especially if it’s in the later rounds and his opponent show signs of fatigue.
“One more is snap down and go behind,” De La Torre said. “Because I can always pull off that move. In the third period, they are a little weaker than me, I try to snap them down and go behind.”
Another one of his moves is going for the opponent’s head and arm.
“You just grab the head, and in one, quick motion, you just fling your hips into him while you’re standing and just throw him,” De La Torre said. “Get him on his back and get a quick pin.”
De La Torre has only been wrestling since his sophomore year at Tokay.
“My friends and coaches were like ‘all just do
weight training,’” said De La Torre of football workouts after his freshman year. “After my sophomore year, I like football, but I need more than football. Just winning, doing good, making your body better, getting stronger, everything about wrestling made me happy.”
As for the mission De La Torre seeks — reaching the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Tournament that will be held at Stockton Arena on Feb. 21-22. At the section’s Division I meet at Gregori High of Modesto in February, De La Torre lost his final match that would’ve qualified him to a trip to the Masters’ meet.