Wrestling: Team adds more members, seeks success

Head coach: Kirk Abe

2017-2018 record: 0-14

Last season recap: Top wrestlers Allie Liddle and Linus Blom made SCVAL All-League, but the team struggled to fill certain weight classes.

Key Additions: Sophomore Tushar Shrivastav, freshman Chris Okuno and senior Ryan Busse

Key Matchups: Jan. 3 vs  Santa Clara, Jan. 31 vs Los Altos.

Star Players: Senior Victor Chen, senior Isaiah Vivero

Key Losses: alumni Alexander Liddle, William Sabato and Vladimir Kataev; sophomore Linus Blom (transferred to Los Gatos)

League: El Camino Division

Prognosis: Last year the Falcons had to forfeit dual meets s because the team could not fulfill certain weight classes. This year, they hope to reverse this trend.

According to senior Victor Chen, last year the team had “studs that could pull off wins” in Liddle and Blom. This year, the team has enough wrestlers to fill the entire roster, but with 15 new wrestlers and only six returning ones, Chen said that the season may be “a bit rough.” Nonetheless, the abundance of new members shows that the team’s recruiting has gone well.

The major change this year is the return of Kirk Abe as the team’s coach. Abe took on the role after previous coach Daniel Gamez left to coach another school. Abe coached 10 years ago and had experience wrestling in high school.

Chen said that the previous coach focused more on the conditioning and mental aspect of wrestling, while Abe will focus on techniques.

Furthermore, the team has ramped up its fundraising this year, selling food at football games and after school. On Oct. 26, during the football team’s senior night, the team sold Abe’s homemade Thainaris, rice with curry chicken in a tofu wrap. However, Chen said that the team is still $1,500 shy of the money needed to pay entry fees for tournaments