STATE WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS : Heavyweight Quits Going for Pins, Ends Up in Stockton

The Masters Meet doesn’t offer much in the way of awards. No trophies, plaques or ribbons are given to the top finishers.

It’s a bottom-line meet: The top seven in each weight division earn a trip to the CIF State wrestling meet, which begins today at the University of the Pacific’s Spanos Center. About the only honor bestowed on the Masters Meet champions is the traditional group photo for next season’s program cover.

It isn’t much to get excited about. Some wrestlers still wear their game faces. Many look bored. But a few smile as if to say, “This couldn’t possibly be happening to me, could it? A trip to State? Really?”

That was Huntington Beach’s Mike Bolster after winning the heavyweight division title Saturday at Fountain Valley.

“It felt great,” said Bolster, a 6-foot-3, 270-pound senior with a 47-5 record. “Earlier this season, I was hoping to get to State. I was just hoping I could place at Masters. But it seems like after every match this season I’ve had to redo my goals. It’s just blowing me away.”

It’s not as if Bolster was a lousy wrestler who finally made something of himself, but he has made some important refinements in the past year that have allowed him to jump from a league champion to a potential State champion. He simply needed a little gentle nudging in the right direction, according to Huntington Beach Coach Robert Rice.

Bolster endured a drastic change in his style since the individual tournaments began last month, and it has paid off. For regular-season dual meets, Rice wanted Bolster to pin every opponent he faced. Often, Huntington Beach needed the extra points to pull out a team victory.

But since the Southern Section 4-A meet, Rice has asked Bolster to take a more patient strategy instead of going for the jugular in each match.

“We had to convince him that he didn’t have to pin everybody,” Rice said. “He didn’t like the idea of winning a match, 2-1.”

Indeed, Bolster balked at first.

“Coach Rice has been stressing one-point victories,” he said. “He calls it strategy. I call it stalling.”

Nevertheless, he followed Rice’s instructions and wound up in the State meet.

“It’s made a difference,” Rice said. “Last Saturday he was patient enough and still got the pins.”

Bolster had three pins in four matches, including one that stopped Mark Hamann of Moreno Valley Canyon Springs 2 minutes 40 seconds into their championship match.

Ideally, Rice wants Bolster ahead, 2-0, going into the second of three two-minute periods.

“As long as they don’t score on him, we feel he’s going to win,” Rice said.

Said Bolster: ‘It’s just a matter of getting past that first period. Before, I had to make the first move. I had to get going right off the bat to get my confidence going.”

He’s reached a point where mere aggressiveness does little to trigger his confidence. He knows if he sticks to the game plan, he can subdue almost anybody.

And since a 4-2 overtime loss to Robert Vasquez of Westminster in the Sunset League final, Bolster has been unbeatable.

He bounced back to defeat Vasquez, 2-0, at the section 4-A meet, then hammered all comers at the Masters Meet last week.

“I knew in the back of my mind that I could win,” Bolster said. “I knew I had to win the first match, then after the second I knew I was in (the State meet). I just went into every match thinking I had to win.

And soon enough, he was standing with the other champions wearing the smile of a winner.

Notes

The first round begins at 9 a.m. today. The semifinals are at 10 a.m. Saturday with the finals at 7 p.m. . . . Orange County’s qualifiers: 103 pounds--Hugo Amaya (Valencia), Vu Do (Los Amigos) and Loc Pham (Irvine); 112--Jim Provencio (Valencia) and Shane Valdez (Calvary Chapel); 119--Gilbert Quintero (Valencia) and Dane Valdez (Calvary Chapel); 125--David Quintero (Valencia) and Truc Tran (Canyon); 130--David Gayer (Canyon) and Zac Tapia (San Clemente); 135--Brad Belanger (Savanna), David Cha (Canyon), Shane Holloway (Saddleback) and Brad Speers (Magnolia); 140--Chad Stewart (Capistrano Valley); 145--Tanni Walling (Tustin); 160--Matt Padgett (Canyon) and Marc Zavala (Anaheim); 171--Eric Escobedo (Huntington Beach), Matte Malle (Valencia) and Justin Young (Canyon); 189--Nick Nosek (Dana Hills); Heavyweight--Mike Bolster (Huntington Beach), Ryan Brubaker (Laguna Hills), Willie Green (Savanna) and Wali Sibrie (Buena Park).