Sports
Lady Pintos Turning Support Role Around

Young Pinto Wins Moriarty Practice Meet

Pintos Finish Opening Tournament in Fourth Place

Sports Shorts

Moriarty Kicks Off Against Pius

Manzano Starts With New Coach

Monarchs Ready for Season

Monarchs Want To Build on 6th-Place Finish at State

Freshman Gives Softball Ol' College Try

EMHS Excited About Gym

More
Sports

HOME	CLASSIFIEDS	OBITUARIES	SPORTS	OPINION

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Coach's Insight Shines at Clinic for Wrestlers

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
      They came seeking the wisdom of the master.
    Fifty-six youth wrestlers and their assorted coaches attended the inaugural Pinto All-American Wrestling Camp at Moriarty High's All-Sports Practice Facility on Friday and Saturday.
    Lee Chaves, coach of Class 4A's six-time defending state champion Belen Eagles, busily jotted down notes as Pintos coach Dennis Friedland personally demonstrated a variety of moves in a school-circle environment during the clinic's final session on Saturday afternoon. Several Belen-area athletes also participated at the event.
    "He's a great technician, and we learned a lot," said Chaves, who will begin his fourth year as the Eagles' head coach in 2008-09. "We're rivals. They're our competition. But they make us better, and we make them better."
    "I'm cool with (the Pintos)," added Josh Griego, who will be a sophomore at Belen. "I don't have anything against them though they are our rivals. But we're still going to beat them this year even though we're a young team this year."
    Grappling jargon was bandied about during the lectures.
    "The next one is a spiral to a skin to a tilt," said Friedland, as he straddled one of his assistants.
    Later, the coach said: "From here, I come to the other side. I change wrists, catch that other elbow and load him on my other lap. Then, it's the same thing, pitch, skin and tilt, two more points. But you have to switch hands to get another move and two more points."
    For the neophyte, it was a total immersion into a wholly new language.
    "I've learned a lot," said 13-year-old camper Patrick McAninch, a 4-foot-11, 77-pound Edgewood Middle School eighth-grader-to-be. "My favorite move is the 'Clarion.' It's where you grab their neck, and then their arm, and then you throw them over your back."
    The fireman's carry was the favorite move of Jonathan Wilson, a 5-4, 105-pound rising seventh grader. He will study at Camino Real Middle School in Las Cruces.
    "I think the camp was great," said Wilson, the son of Earnest Wilson, the running-backs coach for the New Mexico State University football team. "I learned a lot, and it was a lot of fun. It was a great experience."
    Many of the campers wore T-shirts that touted their schools.
    "It was a great camp," said Friedland, who will start his second year at Moriarty High this fall semester. "We had a turnout of about 85 to 90 percent of the (Pintos) wrestlers, and we had other kids from all over — Grants, Wingate, Eldorado, Belen and Highland (and Las Cruces Oñate)."
    Moriarty placed fourth at the 2008 Class 4A state tournament in February. Friedland guided Rio Rancho to five 5A state titles — including two duals crowns — from 2003-05.
    Friedland shrugged off concerns that the clinic might be handing classified-like information to the Pintos' foes on a silver platter.
    "We do make each other better," he said. "Besides, I have 12 or 14 kids back. I think we have a chance against Belen this year."
    Moriarty rising senior Alex Griego attended the camp and also provided some instruction to the younger wrestlers. He placed fourth at 152 pounds at state last season.
    "We should be able to take state — if we have everybody come out, and we try hard," Griego said.
    Vicente Varela, one of Freidland's success stories while with the Rams, was one of the camp's clinicians along with former Pinto Bradley Spence, the 2008 state titelist at 130 pounds. Varela, who will be a red-shirt freshman at Arizona State University, won four consecutive state titles — at 112, 119, 130 and 135 pounds — during his prep career at Rio Rancho.
    Varela and Spence took on multiple opponents in a row, including some much bigger than them, in one of the camp's highlights.
    "I think Moriarty is a good fit for coach," Varela said. "He can get away and start over. And (the Pintos) have a talented team, scrappy. With a little technique that coach can teach them, they can do well."
    Moriarty senior-to-be Brian Vigil, at 5-7 and 112 pounds, bided his time as he watched Varela take down consecutive wrestlers. But Vigil, who was injured during state in February, surprised the collegiate Sun Devil.
    "He was turning on everyone else, so I thought I'd just shoot," Vigil said. "I was surprised I got him."
    John Barela, who has been a Moriarty assistant coach for about 10 years, also was on hand.
    "It was a good camp," he said. "I enjoyed it. We'd talked about doing it for years. Before, we didn't have the facilities we do now."
   

---