Desert Warriors wrestling continues to build program

IMPERIAL, Calif. (KYMA) - Imperial Valley College’s wrestling program is continuing its rebuilding process as it prepares for its second season since returning to competition after a nearly 40-year hiatus.

The Desert Warriors brought wrestling back last year, reestablishing a program that had been absent from the college for decades. While the team remains a work in progress, wrestlers and coaches believe the foundation is being laid for long-term success.

Sophomore wrestler Seth Iten is among the many optimistic wrestlers on the team, emphasizing the importance of helping establish a lasting culture within the program.

“I'm not expecting us to have all the pieces right now, but I'm hoping I can help start a tradition here,” he said. “I want to be a part of that and maybe even come back and help on later on.”

The revival of the program provides local high school wrestlers with an opportunity to continue competing at the collegiate level.

Head coach Tony Leon believes junior college wrestling can serve as an important stepping stone for athletes who still aspire to compete at higher levels.

“Those kids that don’t go to a D-II school, or D-III or D-I, they give up on themselves because they thought of maybe wrestling at an Arizona State or Iowa, or wherever they thought they were going to go wrestle,” Leon said. “If you wanna do that, you can still do that through the JUCO community.”

The transition from high school wrestling to the junior college ranks presents significant challenges.

“[There's] more intense training, more fast pace,” Bernal said. “Everything is done with a purpose. You know, you kind of like working harder because it's going to be tough.”

Freshman wrestler Wyatt Kowalski noted the physical differences between high school and college competition.

“The drilling and conditioning is a lot harder than my high school, and everyone says the hand fighting is different in college,” Kowalski said. “Like, they do a lot more hand fighting. They're like harder on it.”

The program’s development is being guided by an experienced coaching staff. Leon has spent 40 years coaching wrestling, including more than two decades at Brawley Union High School. He is joined by assistant coach Alan Carrillo, who wrestled under Leon at Brawley before continuing his career at Vanguard University.

“Alan comes, he wrestled college,” Leon said. “He wrestled at Brawley for me. And he's a great motivator. He come back, has become a good technician.”

The wrestlers have already seen the impact of that experience.

“We got good coaches,” Iten said. “They push us to the best of our ability, and they get even more out of us than what we have.”

Despite the strong coaching staff, recruitment remains one of the program’s biggest obstacles. Leon admitted he expected attracting wrestlers to be easier given the Imperial Valley’s rich wrestling tradition.

“I was hoping that it would be easier to get these kids to come in and wrestle, on the contrary it’s been very difficult,” Leon said.

He pointed to the abundance of talent in the region that has yet to fully embrace the opportunity available at Imperial Valley College.

“We have good, great athletes, great wrestling in the valley, and we just can't get them to commit or come back to school,” Leon said.

For Leon, who has spent decades helping wrestlers pursue their athletic goals, seeing athletes walk away from the sport after high school is difficult to understand.

“It’s sad,” Leon said. “I wonder why they gave up this dream that they had when they were in high school, and it’s tough for me to ponder. Like I said, I can’t shake it.”

Although awareness of the revitalized program is still growing, Imperial Valley College continues to offer local wrestlers an avenue to extend their careers while pursuing opportunities to compete at higher levels in the future. At the same time, those who join the Desert Warriors have the chance to become foundational pieces of a young program striving to establish itself for years to come.

If you're interested in joining IVC's wrestling program, you can reach out to Coach Leon at antonio.leon@imperial.edu.