DualMeet.com

 It’s one of the shortest routes to Bakersfield, some would say of the CIF’s San Francisco City Section. With only seven competing teams in San Francisco, the section is granted only one state qualifying berth for each weight class, and it is earned annually at the All-City Tournament, which of late has been dominated by Washington High School.

Of the 14 qualifying state spots for each weight class, George Washington H.S. came out of the 2009 tournament with 9 qualifiers and 1^st in the team race by over 80 points. Normally 9 qualifiers for a school at the state tournament would have coaches salivating with illusions of top 5 finishes and a nice plaque. However, transferring the success from the All-City Championships to the state meet has been a different story altogether for the S.F. City Section. The disparity in the level of wrestling within local competition against the state’s highest caliber wrestlers is naturally expected to be great, but over the past three years, the difference has been overwhelming and resulted in dreary experiences for the city’s best wrestlers.

The evidence of the large deviation between the City Section’s success and that of the larger traditional section powerhouses in the state comes in the form of a goose egg, “0”. Dating back to the 2007 CIF State Tournament, the S.F. Section has 0 wins compared to 84 losses, and this leads many to believe that their qualifying spot, although only one, is unwarranted and that the section should be absorbed into the Central Coast Section altogether. Whether those opinions are justified or not is an article for another day.

Regardless of opinion, what is important are the future prospects for wrestling in this section.  What will be different in the upcoming 2009-2010 season from the last few years? One reason for optimism is that we will be seeing the continuing fruition of Washington Coach Mike Meneses’s Presidio Middle School wrestling program. Seven years ago, Coach Meneses began the program to help develop wrestling skills in kids at young ages so that by the time they entered high school they could begin wrestling already being familiar with basic techniques and with some experience, qualities that the majority of high school freshmen lack when they come out for the sport. Additionally, it has garnered the interest of kids. Without the built interest in wrestling, it would have been difficult for Meneses to put together full line ups and to keep the wrestling room packed, and without full line ups and packed wrestling rooms, it would have been hard to maintain kids’ interest in wrestling. Meneses has been able to balance this symbiotic relationship and as a result, Washington High School has benefitted.

Coach Meneses’s blueprint has turned Washington High School into the new section power by claiming the All-City Championship title as well as 21 out of a possible 28 state qualifying spots over the last two seasons. Hopefully, to the benefit of the section as a whole, other San Francisco high school coaches implement this feeder program formula for their schools and even add on to it. The next progressive step would be to encourage kids to wrestle year round in the local Bay Area Wrestling Association (BAWA), throughout California, and even throughout the country. This is the minimum that will be needed to stay on par with other sections in the CIF, and it will definitely assist in decreasing the disparity in competition that the S.F. City Section Champions encounter when they arrive at the CIF State Championships in Bakersfield. As for silencing critics,….other than exhibiting success, no remedy as of yet has been discovered to keep them quiet.

Follow Dualmeet.com and stay updated by becoming a Fan on Facebook.