Hawk wrestlers capture fourth NSL title

For The Madera Tribune

The Liberty Hawks wrestling team celebrates its fourth straight North Sequoia League championship at Washington Union High School. The team captured five individual championships and edged Kerman by 9.5 points to win the title.

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Like many teams this school year, the Liberty Hawks wrestling season was plagued with adversity.

Beyond the usual challenges and sacrifices that wrestling programs face to compete, the winter COVID wave ran through the wrestling team. However, the team goals were always the light at the end of the tunnel.

Competition cancellations made it difficult to see and face other league opponents throughout the season.

Upon arrival to the North Sequoia League championship at Washington Union High School in Easton, Liberty realized that the other teams in the league faced similar challenges to get their wrestlers on the mat.

Being able to fill out a majority of the lineup, the Hawks earned enough team points to hold off a surging Kerman team to win its third consecutive NSL (fourth consecutive if you count the COVID Season).

Liberty’s streak of NSL titles comes to a halt as leagues throughout the Central Section will be realigned in the 2022-2023 school year.

The Hawks had five individual champions and eight NSL finalists.

The NSL champions were Anthony Rocha (126 pounds), Spencer Gladders (132), Josh Kerber (145), Diego Rojas (220), and Abraham Hernandez-Herrera (287).

Other finalists for Liberty were Christian Terry (138), Jacob Swengel (152), Diego Salas (182).

Taking bronze for the Hawks were Talan LaMattina (160) and Caden Moore (170).

The combined effort combined effort scored 157.5 team points to edge out Kerman, who scored 148 points.