Tracy High Wrestling had its first loss of the season against West High School on Dec. 3, but came back with a close win against Kimball High School on Dec. 4, winning eight of the 14 matches.

Many of the wrestlers have already shown improvement from last year.

“We have just started but our prospects are looking good.  Many started late due to football having an extended season,” Head coach Jonathan Blackwell said. “We have a few pre-season tournaments which should tell us a lot more about our prospects for the season.”

A few veterans are being held to a higher expectation and stick out to the coaches.

“Tomas Landeros is one of our veterans expected to do well,” Blackwell said. “In fact, all of our team captains should lead their team.”

This year’s captains are junior Noah Blackwell, senior Dalton Gualco, junior Tomas Landeros, and senior Alex Warner.

Being captain holds a lot of responsibility.

“When my older brother Albert wrestled, he was the one who inspired me,” Landeros said. “Because of him my goal is to inspire the other guys on the team.”

Noah Blackwell, wrestling in the 160-pound weight class, beat West senior Antonio Orosco pinning him 25 seconds into overtime. Senior Dalton Gualco, wrestling in the 126-pound weight class, pinned Kimball sophomore Matthew Jaurique in 53 seconds. Landeros, wrestling in the 160-pound weight class, pinned Kimball senior Jeremiah Salud in 1 minute, 4 seconds.

“I had already been mentally preparing myself before my match even started,” Landeros said. “I knew that it would end up being an easy match.”

Even Landeros has high expectations for himself this year.

“I believe I will improve a lot this year because we take practice a lot more seriously,” Landeros said. “My biggest goal is to go to state towards the end of the season.

With league matches quickly around the corner, the coaches and wrestlers expect a better outcome than last year.

“An improvement on our third place finish last year
will be an improvement,” Blackwell said. “Lodi will still be the team to beat and we hope we
match up better this year.”

Bulldog Classic tournament will be held at Tracy High on Jan. 4 around 6 a.m.