Wrestling crushes state competition
February 23, 2016
Led by sophomore twins Gator and Marco Groves and senior Noah Bello, the McClintock’s wrestling team scored 65 points to place 11th out of 45 teams at the Division II State Tournament February 11 and 12 at the Prescott Valley Event Center.
“To have only three wrestlers score points for you and place that high is amazing,” Coach Robert Groves said. “Together they broke a lot of McClintock records.”
The coach’s sons successfully defended their state titles. Last year they were the first freshmen twins in Arizona wrestling history to win state championships. They followed up with another historical performance. Gator won the 126-pound crown with an 8-4 decision over Queen Creek’s Denen Fernandez. Marco followed with a 16-8 major decision over Tucson Sahauro’s Constantino Murillo in the finals at 132 pounds.
“Gator wrestled a very tactical match and was in control from the start,” Coach Groves said. “Once he gets a lead it is very difficult to come back on him.”
Gator had only 36 points scored against him the entire season and posted a 59-2 record with 27 pins. He also scored 322.5 team points to break his own record that he set last year with 280.
“I think I had a pretty good season,” Gator said. “I tripped up a couple of times, but fortunately it wasn’t during the state tournament.”
Marco dominated the first period in the finals taking a commanding 11-0 lead, but Murillo stormed back to make the score respectable.
“Marco decided to take the last two periods off to let him climb back in,” Coach Groves said. “He really should have pinned or tech falled him.”
“Once I had the big lead I didn’t want to take any chances,” Marco said. “I guess I got a little too conservative but—hey–I am still an undefeated state champion.”
Marco finished with a state best 62-0 record and a school record 35 pins. Of those 62 wins only five were decisions; the rest were technical falls, majors or pins. His brother’s record for team points didn’t last long as Marco tallied a whooping 364.5. He had 68 3-point nearfalls, one shy of Tom Mills’ 69 set in 1974-75 when there were no technical falls making it even more remarkable.
“He really had an unbelievable season; they both did,” Coach Groves said. “To have them win again is pretty surreal.”
Bello place 4th at 160 and ended with a 56-8 mark. All three shattered McClintock’s record for most wins in a season that Gator set last year with 52. Bello knocked off the number two seed in the very first round en route to the semifinals where he lost in a tight 8-6 decision.
“If Noah had wrestled the first period like he did the second and third we would have had three finalist,” Groves said. “But he came back strong after a tough loss to finish in the top four.”
Bello broke three significant McClintock records. He broke McClintock’s career wins mark held by Vincent Bradley from 2004-2008. Bradley had 151 wins while Bello surpassed him with 154. He broke match points in a season with 570 set by Marco last year with 413. And he broke the record for takedowns in a season with 167; Phillip Padilla held the record with 147 in 2001-02.
“He has been a mainstay of the program for four years,” Coach Groves said. “We will really miss his leadership.”
Bello said he will need some time to reflect on his career at McClintock. “It is sad to know it is over,” he said. “But it is time to move on.”
Making the trip to state for the first time were 113-pound sophomore Gabriel Medrano and 120-pound junior Crystian Rodriguez. Both lost each of their two matches.
