The Vero Beach High wrestling team crushed Centennial in a dual meet last week by prevailing in 10 out of 11 matches and compiling a cumulative score of 57-21.
The VBHS winners were: Nathan Gagnon (106), Anthony Donath (113), Daniel Rojas (120), Eric Brown (126), Emmanuel Depaz (138), Daniel Santos (152), Brandon Harris (160), Deion Gent (170), Jacob Starnes (182) and Jason Johnson (220). Vero was forced to forfeit three weight classes due to a lack of participants.
That was the third and final home meet for the 2015-16 season. It was also Senior Night during which eight soon-to-be graduates were honored in front of family, friends and school staff. Six of the seven seniors who went to the mat that evening went on to win matches.
Second-year head coach Chris Zuniga wrestled at VBHS from 2000-04 and took third place at the state tournament in his senior year. He went on to wrestle at UCF before entering a more serious phase in the sport.
“I got into professional mixed martial arts and I was a pro fighter for about seven years,” Zuniga said. “I also volunteered as a coach at VBHS from 2007-09 when my cousin wrestled here and became a state champion in 2009.
“I lived in New Jersey for a while and when I moved back to Vero I heard that the team needed a coach. I applied for the position and they gave it to me.”
Zuniga personifies the notion that the faint-of-heart need not apply for this type of physical activity. He said, “It’s a very tough sport and I grew up playing every sport possible. It’s the oldest sport known to man. I can tell you right now that wrestling is the hardest sport you can possibly do.
“I started the season with 50 kids and I’ve got 16 left. The biggest issue with teenagers is that not every kid wants to put the work in. Wrestling is not only physically demanding, it is mentally demanding. You not only have to be in tremendous physical shape, you have to learn the technique, the moves, and you have to be smart.
“I tell kids time and time again that being a great athlete doesn’t mean you are going to be a great wrestler. Amazing athletes from football, basketball and track come in here and get their butts kicked. This is a martial art and there is a lot of learning involved.
“So it is a very special group of kids that sticks around. Maybe they didn’t make another team. Maybe they were too small or they weren’t fast enough. Wrestling gives everybody an opportunity to be great. The workouts are intense but the effort they put into training is going to directly affect what happens on the mats in competition.
“When you go out there for a match it’s all on you. Nobody is blocking for you and nobody is going to give you an assist. If you’re slacking in practice, you won’t be able to hide that fact in competition.”
Zuniga had one state qualifier in his first year. Senior Daniel Rojas is a case study on the opportunities wrestling provides for athletes of all sizes – as long as they heed the instructions of a knowledgeable coach and, of course, give it an all-out effort.
“This is my third year wrestling and I became a state qualifier by practicing hard, listening to my coach, and just trying to do my best,” Rojas explained. “I was playing football and started wrestling to help with football. Then I realized that I wasn’t going to be very good at football so I went all in with wrestling. And I really liked it.
“The practices are hard but they are also fun. Wrestling helps me with discipline, not only here but in life. My strong points are the sweep singles and riding legs when I’m on top. I just try to stay smart and not get into bad positions.”
Rojas generally wrestles at 113 pounds but was bumped up to 120 against Centennial to fill another weight class.
“Daniel Rojas shows you again that at 113 pounds you are not going to play many sports other than wrestling,” Zuniga said. “He’s a good kid and an honor student. A lot of the kids here are good students.
“This year I’m looking to send a handful of kids to the state tournament. I have some very good young kids coming up and in the next few years we are going to have a nice group of really good wrestlers.”
