Young Wave hits the mat this season

Fallon’s putting the “green” in Greenwave this season.

With only two returning upperclassmen to help lead 12 underclassmen and first-year wrestlers, fifth-year coach Trevor de Braga is excited about this season

“Over the years, you get spoiled because you have the experienced kids in the room, so that makes coaching a lot easier and not having to teach the basics,” said de Braga, who’s assisted by Dan Shaw, brothers Frank and Trent de Braga, and Tyler Diaz. “So, this season has really brought me and the staff together teaching Day 1 techniques and moves rather than just jumping into it at 100 miles per hour. The kids are fun, they work hard and when it’s time to work, they are very focused.”

Back this year are senior Tommy McCormick, a two-time state champ, junior Wyatt Hatch and sophomores Cody Shelton and Lucas Prinz. McCormick is the only wrestler who’s made it to the state tournament after finishing second as a freshman and winning it all the last two years.

De Braga will look to McCormick and Hatch to lead the team.

“Wyatt and Tommy have a big role as leaders this season,” de Braga said. “Before, we have had a handful of upperclassmen to lead the room but now, it’s just them two leading 14 freshmen, sophomores and first-year wrestlers.

“Wyatt is a good wrestler and a great kid, he works hard in the room but he still has yet to make it to the state tournament, so he also needs to stay focused and stick to his goal of making it there as well.”

McCormick’s bar is set higher, beginning with this weekend’s Reno Tournament of Champions where he can become an All-American. McCormick fell short last year after watching his older brother, Sean, and Ben Dooley, both whom who graduated last spring, win the honor.

As for the team, de Braga wants to qualify as many to the regional and state tournaments. But it all starts with making solid progress each week, which he’s been pleased with so far.

“I’m very happy with the progress the kids have made. We just had five champions at Hug but that’s big for them,” de Braga said. “We had a lot of success in our Earl Wilkens tournament last weekend and I was very pleased with how we wrestled the past two weekends. In the wrestling room, it’s still a little slow because we’re still doing a lot of teaching but it’s picking up more and getting into more live drilling and live wrestling. I feel our conditioning is coming along fine, we do our morning 6 a.m. runs through town then condition off and on throughout practice.”

New to the team this year are senior Zachary Stewart, juniors Jeissy Melo-Castro, Sam Thorne, Logan Dixon and Rodrigo Flores, sophomore Xavier Capton, and freshmen Jeramiah Prinz, Nevaeh King, Isiah Diaz, Everdmar Garcia, Steven Moon and Joshua White. Jeramiah Prinz, Garcia, Diaz, Moon and White each won their division in last week’s Hug tournament while Shelton took second, Lucas Prinz was third and Capton finished fourth.