State Wrestling Championship : Poway’s Rosselle Revs Up to Win at 105

While other wrestlers were preserving their energy stretching quietly in the wings during Saturday’s finals of the state high school wrestling championships, Poway’s Shane Rosselle stepped outside and began running laps around the A.G. Spanos Center.

This was Rosselle’s version of the “first period.”

There was no way he was going in cold this time against North County rival Mike Grubbs of El Camino.

The extra sweat paid off. Rosselle scored a takedown in the final 9 seconds for a 6-5 decision over Grubbs and won the state 105-pound title at the University of the Pacific.

In the 154-pound championship, Aaron Gaeir of Granite Hills defeated Dwayne Buth of Mount Miguel, 8-2. At 175, Robert Zapata of Selma High won the championship with a 15-3 decision over Serra’s Rich Lazott.

Antioch High won the team title with 89.5 points. Capistrano Valley was second with 66 points and Poway was third with 58.5 points.

Rosselle, a senior, finished the season with a 38-5 record. Grubbs, a junior, finished 40-2; both losses were to Rosselle.

This was their fifth meeting this season. At the Master’s tournament last weekend, Grubbs won, 6-3. Last year, Rosselle was 4-0 against Grubbs.

“They are great friends and always root for each other,” said Wayne Branstetter, Poway’s coach. “This entire tournament, they have been each other’s best cheerleader.”

Rosselle ended his cheerleading and began his running before the evening championship match. He said he “wanted to walk out on the mat with a sweat.”

“I really got warmed up good,” he said. “Usually, I’m not really tuned into what I’m doing in the first period. Then I usually have to catch up. . . . I knew I would be there for the end; it was the beginning I had to worry about.”

That’s because three weeks ago at the El Camino tournament, Rosselle went in cold, allowed Grubbs to take a 5-0 lead after in the second period and lost, 7-6.

“That’s been a problem for (Rosselle) all season,” Branstetter said. “He goes out cold and then falls behind early. In a tournament like this, you really are going to have a difficult time coming back.”

Rosselle jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first period after a reversal. Grubbs took the lead, 4-2, after a near-fall and a takedown. Trailing, 5-4, with nine seconds left, Rosselle received two points for the takedown.

“This is my last year,” Rosselle said. “There were six minutes left in my high school career and I decided I would go out in style . . . and I did.”

In the 154-pound match, Gaeir dominated throughout, although his margin was not as high as the major decision (17-3) he scored over Buth at last week’s Master’s tournament.

“I knew I had the psychological edge because of the meet last week,” said Gaeir, a senior. “But this being the state meet, in front of all these people (estimated crowd of 5,500), I think that gave him a little more energy.”

Gaeir and Buth had practice together all week, and Gaeir felt that may have given Buth an opportunity to judge his opponent’s moves.

Apparently not. Gaeir’s trademark is to allow his opponent to shoot out for him. From there, Gaeir can usually score a takedown.

“I was hoping he would shoot,” Gaeir said. “He knew I would take him down from there. Once I got an early lead (4-0), I knew I would keep it.”