BROTHERS IN STRONG ARMS : Granite Hills’ Wrestling Gaeirs Have Good Chances for High Finishes in State Meet

The final class ends, the sun shines and the ocean awaits. Jake Gaeir, a 16-year-old with multi-colored shorts that cover his knees, seems dressed for beach. So does his huskier brother, Aaron. Sure enough, within an hour of Granite Hills High School’s final bell, the spray is flying, and Jake and Aaron are drenched.

But they are nowhere near the beach. They are wrestling.

On this, a workout day, sweat is everywhere. The Gaeirs’ shirts, shorts, socks and heads are soaked. Sweat also streaks the mats upon which they and the county’s other standout wrestlers gasp and strain.

And what’s sweat without blood? One fellow has both trickling down his cheek. It’s 65 degrees outside, but the heater hums.

Jake and Aaron Gaeir continue to drill, as they have since October, as they have since Jake was 5, Aaron 6.

That’s the exertion part of wrestling’s demands. Another is starvation.

As a helper at a deli and a cook at two Italian restaurants, 17-year-old Aaron Gaeir smells it all--pizza, lasagna, pastrami, ravioli, sausages and steaks.

“That’s not the hard part,” Aaron says. “The hard part is when you have 10 million different types of soft drinks and you can’t take a sip of it. You’ve got to make weight.”

Adds Jake: “At night, when you’re sleeping, you feel a lot of stomach pains. You can’t sleep good.”

“You can’t sleep,” amends Aaron.

That was the case Thursday as they fasted one last time in preparation for the start of the state championship meet today at the University of the Pacific in Stockton.

Jake, a 142-pound junior, will be seeking his first top-six finish in his third try at state. Aaron, a 158-pound senior, aims to win it all in this, his fourth try. Last year he finished third.

“When I first wrestled,” Aaron says, “I went out there when I was 6 years old, didn’t know what to expect, won matches and said, ‘This could be fun.’ I won a medal and said, ‘I really like this.’ ”

And still does, right?

“Wrestling isn’t fun,” he says. “I tell people that. Wrestling isn’t fun. But when you’re on the mat, and there’s 100 people, or if there’s only two people watching you, and you’re winning, that’s fun. Being county champion, that’s fun.”

Between that thrill, Jake and Aaron Gaeir have felt like quitting. When that feeling attacks one, the other brother picks him up.

They also benefit from the rigorous Grossmont League, which sent at least one wrestler to state in every weight class but 194. But even in league, the Gaeirs excel.

“If I had to pick one thing that makes them so good, it’s mental toughness,” says Glen Takahashi, the coach of rival Valhalla.

“I hurt my back over the summer,” Jake recalled. “The doctor said one of my vertebrae was inflamed in the lower back. He said not to do any wrestling this year. He said he took a guy out of swimming for the same problem.

“I told him, ‘Well, I’m going to wrestle this year.’ ”

Jake did compromise. He agreed not to lift weights or run. Such abstinences would figure to hinder him.

“A lot of guys at my weight are stronger than I am,” Jake said. “I just use experience.”

And he takes an analytical approach as he maneuvers against stronger opponents.

“Jake’s got a lot of tools, techniques,” said his coach, Guy Gist. “He’s got a variety of moves. He’s pretty unpredictable, which makes him tough.”

How tough?

Jake, who with Aaron competed in the freestyle event of the American Amateur Union Junior Nationals in Iowa last summer, won 37 of his 39 matches this season. He lost to another state entrant, Frank Milsap of Monte Vista, in the Masters meet.

As for state, “I’m shooting for first, but top six will be fine,” Jake said.

Two demons haunt Aaron Gaeir.

The first has to do with finishing only third in the state last year in his weight class, then 145.

“At the time, I was happy with that,” Aaron said. “Now that I look back, last year was the year I should have won it.”

The summer after the state meet, Aaron elected to compete in the freestyles at the junior nationals, though Greco-Roman wrestling is his forte.

He went 2-2 and then watched the Greco junior national competition, seeing wrestlers he’d beaten in an 11-state tournament at Las Vegas that spring.

“I watched those guys finish third, fourth and fifth in junior nationals,” Aaron said. “They’re All-America. I just went, ‘Ahhhh’ and practically killed myself. There’s another ‘should have.’ ”

His flexible hips and strong upper body, Gist said, make Aaron ideal for Greco, which forbids leg contact. Gaeir, who first must improve his grades, hopes Greco can land him atop the junior nationals en route to a college scholarship and a future Olympics.

But first, there’s the state meet and Victor Valley’s Dan Henderson.

The way Gaeir figures it, Henderson and he will be seeded 1-2 in Stockton. Henderson won the Southern Section Masters qualifying meet, Gaeir (37-1) won the San Diego Section Masters meet.

Gaeir will have to answer to his demanding self if he fails to hold up his end of the ranking.

“I’ve wrestled Henderson since I was 6,” he said, “and I looked at him on the board--I killed him every time--and said, ‘OK, I’ve got this guy, who have I got next?’ Now he’s getting his revenge.”

Gaeir hopes he will reach the final and Henderson will be his opponent.

“Last year, I told everybody, just like I’m telling you, top three, or else I didn’t do my job,” he said. “I feel like if I’m not first or second, everybody that counted on me, I let them down.”

When either of the Gaeirs gets down on wrestling, he can count on the other to deliver a booster shot.

But it can be difficult, they explain, as talk turns to eating.

At times, the stomach, which dieting tightens into a clenched fist, becomes a wrestler’s worst enemy. Just try telling your teen-ager he can’t eat on Friday night.

“And if you want to drink, it’s only one glass,” Aaron said.

So after Saturday’s weigh-ins and before Saturday’s competition, food dominates the wrestler’s existence.

“You weigh in and you’re all happy,” Jake said. “Then you try and eat and you get full real quick.”

And sometimes you get sick, real quick.

Fasting, sweating, gasping, occasionally eating like a normal kid, skipping parties, surfing only once a week. This goes on nearly forever.

But then it is time for the state meet.

Said Jake: “By the time state comes around, it’s the hardest point for you because it’s the biggest tournament of the season, yet you’ve been wrestling the whole season, and you’re burnt out.”

After state, the Gaeirs will have a normal life style again. Eating when they want, going to parties and surfing more often.

But they will pine for the mats.

“So you’re shooting all your weekends goodby,” Jake said with a shrug. “That’s something you’ve got to live with. You’ve got to dedicate yourself to something.”

With a capital D.