Chaminade group paces area state qualifiers
Chaminade wrestling coach Bill Wilson began the first day of the CIF State wre`stling championships eating scrambled eggs in an RV.
The RV made the trip out to Bakersfield for the tournament, and it's become a hangout for the five wrestlers who qualified — a record for Chaminade.
“We just kind of do our thing every day and it seems to be working and the kids seem to gravitate to it,” Wilson said. “There's a lot of laughter, just having like the RV that I'm sitting in now. It's just a fun, family kind of feel to it.”
Yousef Jubrail, Slava Shabazyan, Spencer von Savoye, Kris Castro and Primo Catalano will each be competing at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield in the state tournament, which started on Thursday and will conclude today.
Shabazyan is competing in the tournament as a freshman and is the No. 14 wrestler in the state in 132-pound weight class, according to the calwrestling.com rankings.
“We knew he was going to be good, but we didn't know how good,” Wilson said. “He's going to be hopefully a multi-year state champ is our hope.”
The Eagles also have two sophomores in Catalano, the No. 7 wrestler at 182, and Jubrail, who is No. 30 at 106. Von Savoye, a senior, is ranked No. 14 at 145.
Castro, another senior, has been a valuable piece of this year's team and is the No. 10 wrestler at 160 with Mission League and
Southern Section titles to his name this season.
“Kris is our leader,” Wilson said. “Everyone kind of looks to Kris and he communicates to all the kids and what's going on the room.”
As a team, Chaminade was the Mission League champion and the CIF Southern Section Division 3 runner-up, which is the highest finish in school history.
Wilson said he's hopeful they can send just as many wrestlers to the state level next season, but there's no pressure amongst the wrestlers and coaches. The standard perpetuates itself.
“Everyone in between knows there's a quality,” he said. “There's a standard that's expected in the room and all the kids kids of just do it now. It's a culture now. It's an unsaid expectation now of what's expected, without the coaches having to yell it.”