Jaguars retooling with young lineup; eye 7th straight title
Few programs have had the kind of success that the Windsor High School wrestling program has enjoyed for the past 10-plus years, a decade of dominance that has featured six consecutive league titles, five straight North Coast Section Duals pennants and a yearly procession of athletes beating a path to the CIF State Championships in Bakersfield.
Although the Jaguars graduated some of the best wrestlers in school history in June in seniors Dominic DuCharme, Beau Colombini and Anthony Spallino, veteran coach Rich Carnation returns to lead a talented group of 40 athletes that look to continue the winning legacy of their predecessors.
“We’ve got a lot of young kids that are coming up that want to establish their own place on the team and they’ll need to get up to speed as fast as possible,” Carnation said. “We may be young but our goals are always the same; to win league and the North Coast Section and send as many kids to state as we can.”
The Jaguars return a solid core of veteran talent that includes 152-pound junior league champion and state qualifier Perez D. Perez, 147-pound senior two-time NBL champ Luke Au-Yeung, 160-pound senior Steven Allee (2nd in NBL), 197-pound senior Aidan Henry (2nd in NBL), 220-pound senior Kevin Correa (2nd in NBL), 126-pound junior Connor Brown (2nd in NBL), 132-pound sophomore Brennan Brown, 145-pound junior Raven Davis and 108-pound junior Brennan Tamayo.
The list of promising underclassmen starts with 140-pound freshman Trent Silva, 115-pound freshman Justin Campbell, 108-pound freshman Tony Russotti, 140-pound sophomore Nick Landeros and sophomore heavyweight Austin Jacobs.
“Over half our team is made up of freshmen and sophomores,” Carnation noted.
Although Windsor has been the team to beat in the North Bay League since the realignment in 2011, the Jaguars may be pushed by other teams with designs on the league title.
“The NBL will be really tough this year,” predicted Carnation, assisted by Cody Howe, Sean Henry, Cabby Basurto, Jose Chavez and Trevor Silva. “The league is stacked with seniors on other teams so it’s going to be a challenge.”
Windsor will kick off the 2016/17 campaign in earnest this Saturday, Dec. 17 when it takes the mat at the annual San Marin Green and Gold Tournament in Novato.