First published in the Jan. 27 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.
The season for the wrestling team at Glendale’s Hoover High had been a nonstarter until La Cañada High came to the Tornados’ rescue. It was not a tournament, but a chance to get their hands on some opponents and try to catch up on competition opportunities lost to the surge of COVID’s Omicron variant.
“We’ve been constantly getting canceled and having problems with COVID,” Hoover coach Kevin Slowick said. “We are fortunate that [La Cañada coach] Justin [Luthey] is the savior of our division. We really appreciate him a lot. He’s always coming through for us. It’s been a tough year. Any competition we have is because of Justin and the La Cañada organization.”
The Spartans hosted Hoover as part of a sprawling dual meet Tuesday, with two rings going at once that also saw La Cañada, Monrovia, San Marino, St. Monica Academy and Eagle Rock take to the mat.
“It was quite an honor just to host this,” Luthey said. “I know COVID has derailed a lot of teams.”
It would be a light day for the hosts, with both the Spartan boys’ team, which had wrestled a majority of the schools previously, and the girls’ team each taking on one opponent.
The hardest working team at the event was the Tornados, who would be playing out their entire regular season in one day.
“For Hoover to come in here and wrestle four matches in a row, kudos to them,” Luthey said. “I just think it’s cool to have this giant league environment going on.”
Hoover’s third opponent of the dual meet was La Cañada, which is ranked No. 4 in the CIF-Southern Section Division IV. The Tornados were no match for the host Spartans, who won every encounter expect for one.
La Cañada senior Cameron Fernando got things started, winning by pinfall at 120 pounds.
“It was a lot of taking down and letting back up,” Fernando said. “I wanted to have fun because this is my last home dual match with my team, so I just wanted to go out there and have fun. I ended up getting [the pin] with a two-on-one stack. Stacked him, pinned him and got the job done.”
In the end, La Cañada steamrolled Hoover and won the match, 77-3.
The La Cañada girls also were in action, facing their equivalents from Eagle Rock High. The Spartans stayed hot and took the meet, 45-12.
“[The girls] have just come out of nowhere this season. This is our sixth or seventh win in a row as a team,” Luthey said. “They came out ready to wrestle.”
One of the victors for the hosts was freshman Angel Lee.
“This was probably my best match of the whole season,” Lee said. “You just have to keep trying and work hard.”
