Taking it to the mat

Mike Sciacca

The week leading up to the CIF State Wrestling Tournament, Edison

High junior Romney Fuga said he felt nervous about the impending

event. After all, it was Fuga’s first trip to Bakersfield for the

state meet.

“For some reason, I was really nervous throughout the week,” Fuga

said. “But coach [Dan Rawlins] told me that I shouldn’t be nervous,

that I was ready for this. I was still a little nervous when I got up

there, but felt better once I started to wrestle.”

Fuga, the Sunset League and CIF Coastal heavyweight champion who

earned a fifth-place finish at the CIF Masters Meet, won four matches

last weekend in Bakersfield to claim fourth place in the heavyweight

division at the state tournament.

He was the lone Sunset League wrestler to earn a top-eight finish

at the state meet.

“At the time, it felt good to know I got a fourth-place finish at

state,” Fuga said. “It felt better, though, when I got back home.

That’s when it sunk in. Finishing fourth at state was a good feeling.

“Next year, though, I’d like to win a state championship. There’s

nowhere to go but up.”

Fuga was one of two Huntington Beach wrestlers to earn a high

finish at the state meet.

Bryan Osuna, a senior at Calvary Chapel in Santa Ana, wrestled his

way to a sixth-place finish at 125 pounds. Osuna entered the state

meet having earned Pacific Coast League, CIF and Masters titles in

his weight class in February.

He was no stranger at the state level either: the meet marked the

third time in four years that Osuna has reached the state tournament.

As a freshman, he finished eighth at state at 103 pounds. A back

injury cut short his sophomore year at 112 pounds, but he rebounded

as a junior to win a league title at 119 pounds, finish second at CIF

and fourth at Masters, then went on to claim sixth place at state.

“I think I pretty much gave it my all and in that sense, I’m

satisfied,” Osuna said of his accomplishments this year. “I was

hoping to finish higher, though.”

Next up for Osuna is the Senior Nationals, scheduled for April 1-3

in Cleveland.