Resting on His Laurels : Moorpark College’s Barajas Celebrates State Wrestling Title by Sleeping, Eating

On the night he became state junior college wrestling champion in the 118-pound class, Valo Barajas made a surprising discovery about himself.

A party animal he is not.

Barajas, a Moorpark College freshman, shocked previously undefeated Tom Gallegos of San Bernardino Valley, 13-8, to win the title Saturday night at West Valley College in Saratoga.

Then Barajas shocked himself.

To celebrate, he 1) cried; 2) ate “a normal dinner”; 3) went to sleep.

“We went back to the hotel and all my friends . . . all the wrestlers, they were having a big party,” Barajas said. “I wanted to stay awake, but I was so tired. I hit the bed and I was so exhausted, my body . . . I just went to sleep.”

That Barajas zonked out when it came to merrymaking was no less bewildering than the string of victories he wove together en route to the championship.

A month ago, while he was still bothered by a sprained left ankle, his record was 10-6. Then came eight wins in a row, including two in the South-Central regional and four in the state finals.

“His record still doesn’t indicate that he is a state champion,” Moorpark Coach John Keever said. “He just rose to the occasion. He had a big tournament.”

The same could be said for the majority of the Raiders. They had secured their second consecutive team title long before Barajas stepped onto the mat to wrestle in the final.

“The pressure was off us after the consolation rounds in the afternoon,” Keever said. “We had three finalists and didn’t have to win a match.”

Second-place Fresno also had three finalists, all of whom won their matches. But Moorpark, whose only individual champion was Barajas, still had a healthy 101 1/4-86 1/2 edge in the team scoring at tournament’s end.

“We wrestled so well and so together for two days that I had coaches come up and ask what we were feeding our guys,” Keever said.

Moorpark, which was represented in all 10 weight classes, had six top-four finishes and all but one Raider won at least one match.

Of the team’s three finalists, Keever considered Barajas the least likely winner.

Moorpark’s Neal Mason, who dropped a 4-2 decision to Kent Davis of Mt. San Antonio in the 158-pound final, had been voted top wrestler in the South-Central regional. And Phil Guerrero, who fell to Todd Parham of Sacramento, 3-1, in the 190-pound final, was coming off an upset of top-seeded Eric Johnson of Palomar in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, Barajas was up against the unbeaten Gallegos.

“And Valo didn’t just beat him by a little bit,” Keever said. “He beat him handily. He broke him.”

The score was tied, 3-3, after the first of three rounds, but in the second round Barajas took control early by scoring a takedown.

Shortly afterward, Gallegos groaned while rolling over onto his stomach, giving Barajas an indication that the match was well in hand. “I felt like I broke him,” Barajas said.

As it was, Barajas defeated Gallegos by a greater margin than he had in his previous three state tournament matches. Barajas defeated Richard Gutierrez of East Los Angeles, 3-0, in the first round, then knocked off Bakersfield’s Steve Ward, 2-0. In the semifinals, Barajas defeated second-seeded Jason Booth of Rancho Santiago--twice.

The first time, Barajas was awarded a 4-3 victory, the final point based on a greater amount of “riding time” in an otherwise even match. But soon after, Barajas was called back onto the mat for a sudden-death overtime period after officials discovered that they had erred in tabulating the riding time.

Barajas scored a takedown to win, 5-3, in less than a minute.

“When they took that point away and the match went into overtime, psychologically he could have been completely blown away and lost the match,” Keever said.

Said Barajas: “I had all the momentum. I said, ‘You’ve been beating this guy all the way through the match. Just keep doing it.’ ”

So he did, setting up a tussle with Gallegos. And again, Barajas heeded his own words.

“I told myself, ‘He’s expected to beat you. You have nowhere to go but up,’ ” Barajas said. “I just relaxed and wrestled. My coach said to keep the pressure on him and that’s what I did. I kept shooting and wrestled hard for the whole seven minutes.”

Which perhaps explains why his energy tank was on empty when it came time to eat and celebrate.

However, let it be noted that he is catching up on lost time. His weight already has ballooned to nearly 130 pounds and he predicts that it will be even higher by the first of the year. Barajas will celebrate his 19th birthday Dec. 26 and, along with his parents, three brothers and three sisters, he is planning a weeklong eating binge to mark the holidays.

He figures he is due because training forced him to sacrifice Thanksgiving, which he spent in his room watching television to avoid the aromas emanating from the kitchen.

“In high school, we had to skip Christmas (meals) because I was in the middle of the season,” Barajas said. “It’s going to be a different story this year.”

Temporarily, at least, such is the diet of a champion.