Sportstars
Vanguard 2019-’20 Wrestling Season Preview Vanguard 2019-’20 Wrestling Season Preview
Vanguard Matmen 2019-20 Wrestling Season Preview After a 39-year hiatus, the “Matmen” will once again return to The Pit behind Head Coach Caleb Flores... Vanguard 2019-’20 Wrestling Season Preview

Vanguard Matmen 2019-20 Wrestling Season Preview

After a 39-year hiatus, the “Matmen” will once again return to The Pit behind Head Coach Caleb Flores in 2019-20.

The last time Vanguard had wrestlers compete was 1975 when the Lions had wrapped up their third NAIA District III Championship. With a perfect 20-0 season!

The Blue and Gold will make their season debut on November 3rd at Menlo College.

Flores spent the last eight years splitting time between his duties as an Assistant Coach at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California and working as the Assistant Coach at Northview High School in Covina.

_______________________________
GET CONNECTED:

Follow SportStars on Twitter & Instagram Like us on Facebook | Subscribe!
_______________________________

In his tenure, he has guided a pair of dual Junior College State Championship Teams, coached his teams to a Top-5 finish for six consecutive seasons, and instructed 11 individual state champion. And 28 All-Americans.

In 2013, he was recognized as the CCCAA Southern Region Assistant Coach of the Year.

“We have a strong wrestling community here in Southern California and this is a great opportunity for these kids in SoCal to continue their education and wrestling career,” said Flores. “We are looking to set the foundation with the right type of kids that are going to fit the culture of the school and go to class and just be great ambassadors for us.”

Name Weight Class
Andrew Silva (FR/Corona, CA) 125
Sunny Luna (FR/Victorville, CA) 133
Steven Kroesen (FR/Laguna Hills, CA) 133
Gabriel Cortez (FR/Covina, CA) 141
Andrew Gomez (SR/Yorba Linda, CA) 141
Juan Lopez III (FR/Fontana, CA) 149
Brian Isaias (FR/Villa Park, CA) 157
Luke Lussier (FR/Victorville, CA) 165
Armon Fayyazi (JR/Irvine, CA) 174
Ethan Vistro (JR/Rowland Heights, CA) 184
Andrew Shin (FR/Glendora, CA) 197
Joshua Sapien (JR/Hacienda Heights, CA) 285

 

The wrestlers who will be featured in the Lions’ inaugural season include seniors Mario Barrios (SR/Covina, CA) and Andrew Gomez.

The junior class includes Armon Fayyazi, Tyler Jorgensen (JR/Temecula, CA), Joshua Sapien, Adam Valdez (JR/Barstow, CA), and Ethan Vistro while Zachary Cunningham (SO/Eastvale, CA) will be the only sophomore on the roster.

The large freshman class that rounds out the talented roster includes Gabriel Cortez, Juan Lopez III, Brian Isaias, Manuel Jaramillo (FR/Selma, CA), Steven Kroesen, Michael Leinenger (FR/Rancho Bernardo, CA), Sunny Luna, Luke Lussier, Andrew Shin, Andrew Silva, and Nathan Yanez (FR/Eastvale, CA).

“Our goals this season is honestly just to see our kids compete hard and see the progress that they have made,” Flores continued. “I am a big believer in getting one percent better every day. If we continue to focus on ourselves, come February, March, when it really counts, we are going to be very competitive.”

The Lions will begin their season with a match at Menlo College before their home opener against San Fransisco State University on Thursday, November 7th at 7:00 p.m.

Story by SportStars INSIDER, Al Fontes. Follow Al at thecaliforniawrestler.com.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=46], [bsa_pro_ad_space id=37], [bsa_pro_ad_space id=42]

After serving the California wrestling community for over 25 years, Coach Al Fontes am departing from editorship responsibilities with the California Wrestler Newsletter

Al Fontes

AL FONTES “aka, Coach Al” has over 38 years service in the sport of wrestling. He has served as the California State Editor of the California Wrestler Newsletter since 1995. He has also been a contributing editor for several national wrestling publications and websites (Wrestling USA Magazine, Amateur Wrestling News, WIN Magazine, InterMat and theMat.com). His awards include Wrestling USA Editor-of-the-Year, WUSA Man-of-the-Year, and at the 2001 CIF State Championships, he was given the Irv Oliner Award for contributions to California wrestling.

No comments so far.

Be first to leave comment below.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *