It might seem odd that in a sport as aggressive as wrestling that a wrestler needs to be reminded to be aggressive.
That happened to Esperanza sophomore wrestler Aaron Nagao.
Last month in the CIF State championships, Nagao finished second. There is nothing wrong with a sophomore, or even a senior, finishing second at state. Nagao and Esperanza coach Christian Holiday believed that a more persistent Nagao could have won the CIF State finals match at 113 pounds in which the victor was Maximo Renteria from Buchanan of Clovis by a 9-1 decision.
“Aaron’s been a little hesitant lately, going back to the state finals,” Holiday said. “Before he knew it, he was behind 5-0 (against Renteria).”
In the United States Wrestling junior national championships at Cedar Falls, Iowa, last week, Nagao dominated defending champion Jeremiah Reno of Missouri for a 13-1 win in the 113 final.
Nagao took control of the match early.
“I was looking to score points the whole time,” Nagao said. “Coach told me that I had trained a lot harder than anyone else, and that I had to believe in that.”
The national wrestling season continues for many of the county’s top wrestlers like Nagao and Santa Ana senior Joey Daniel, who finished second in a national wrestling competition in Virginia two weeks ago. Trabuco Hills junior Trey Munoz is also doing a national tour.
For Nagao, his success might be only a matter of believing in his own ability.
“I have to stay confident in myself,” Nagao said. “That’s the most important thing.”
Taking a look around Orange County high school sports:
• Orange Lutheran won the National High School Invitational baseball tournament at Cary, NC, for the second year in a row. The Lancers defeated Cary’s Green Hope 9-3 in the championship game Saturday.
• Orange Lutheran senior pitcher Cole Winn, a Mississippi State signee who has been projected as an MLB first-round draft choice, in one NHSI win pitched a one-hitter with nine strikeouts in six innings, and Lancers sophomore pitchers Max Rajcic and Christian Rodriguez were strong in other tournament wins.
• Maybe NHSI should be called the Orange County High School Invitational. Five of fix NHSI champions have been O.C. teams: Orange Lutheran, twice; Mater Dei, twice; and Huntington Beach and San Clemente with one NHSI title each. Dana Hills lost to Orange Lutheran in last year’s NHSI championship game.
• The National Classic baseball tournament began Monday. It has a terrific 16-team field that includes IMG, Corona (No. 5 in CIF-Southern Section Division 1), Cypress, Mission Viejo, host-school El Dorado and Cypress. The National Classic semifinals will be played as a doubleheader on Wednesday (4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.) at Cal State Fullerton where the championship game will be played Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
• Other baseball tournaments being played this week are the Santa Ana Elks Tournament and the Ryan Lemmon Invitational. The Lemmon tournament (RyanLemmonFoundation.com has information) includes OC Varsity top 25 teams Canyon, Capistrano Valley, Dana Hills, Los Alamitos, Pacifica and Tustin.
• Sean Lee of Trabuco Hills high-jumped 7-foot-2 at the Trabuco Invitational on Saturday to win the event by six inches. Lee took a couple of tries at surpassing his national-best 7-3 that he established earlier this season. He couldn’t quite clear that.
• The ultra-prestigious Arcadia Invitational track and field meet is this Friday and Saturday at Arcadia High. Information is at ArcadiaInvitational.org.
• Saddleback girls water polo player Inez Gonzalez and El Dorado boys basketball player Phillip Hathaway are the CIF-Southern Section’s recipients of the CIF State’s Winter/Spring Spirit of Sport Awards. According to the CIF State release on the awards, “The CIF Spirit of Sport Award recognizes student-athletes who have demonstrated the 16 principles of ‘Pursuing Victory with Honor,’ are active in school and community service and exhibit leadership qualities.”
• Mater Dei will play IMG Academy of Bradenton, Fla., in a football game Sept. 21 at Santa Ana Stadium. In USA Today’s final 2017 national rankings, Mater Dei was No. 1 and IMG was No. 2.
• The CIF State Federated Council, the CIF’s statewide legislative body, meets this week. Among the proposals: full contact in football practices would be cut in half from 90 minutes a week to 45 minutes a week; and CIF member schools would not be allowed to play non-California schools that do not participate in their own state’s players – this ban would include non-California schools like IMG, Findlay Prep of Henderson, Nev. (the school 7-3 boys basketball center Bol Bol attended after leaving Mater Dei in November) and Oak Hill Academy of Virginia, an occasional boys basketball opponent of Mater Dei and other Southern California teams.
• Former St. Louis of Hawaii football head coach Darnell Arceneaux was hired as offensive coordinator at Servite. He coached Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota in Hawaii.
• Kennedy’s new football head coach is Bob Sykes who was offensive coordinator at Dana Hills last season. Sykes has a penchant for reviving struggling programs. Kennedy in 2017 finished 2-8 overall and 0-5 in the Empire League.
• Orange Lutheran quaterback Ryan Hilinski has scholarship offers from nearly 20 schools, with Texas A&M being the latest. Hilinski as a junior last season threw for 3,749 yards and 33 touchdowns. If you’re looking for a quarterback with exquisite mechanics, exceptional accuracy and downfield strength, Hilinski is your guy.
• Santa Ana High football, on a roll the past couple of seasons, could be tough again in 2018. Drew Ramirez, a safety who led Orange Lutheran in interceptions last season with three as a junior and was third in tackles, has transferred to Santa Ana.
• No CIF-SS spring sports polls will be released this week.
• Tim Walsh has resigned as boys basketball co-coach at Ocean View where Roger Holmes stays on as the coach. Scott Snyder resigned as boys basketball coach at Bolsa Grande. Walsh and Snyder remain at their schools as athletic directors.
• JSerra is down to three finalists for its boys basketball head coaching position. Nobody is confirming this, but the semi-educated guess here is that former Mission Viejo coach Troy Roelen is in that trio. Every school with a boys basketball head coach opening is interested in Crean Lutheran coach Josh Beaty, who coached Crean to the CIF-SS 3AA championship, as was JSerra. But it doesn’t look like Beaty is among the three finalists.
