Lemoore's latest national champion Isaiah Martinez returns home and gives back
The kid has a thing about championships. He just doesn’t want to let anyone else have one. The guy is Scrooge McDuck in a singlet. McDuck collects gold coins; Martinez collects state and national championships. He’s got three California wrestling titles to go along with his first national championship, and based on what the nation has seen so far, he’ll probably collect a few more.
With all that in mind one would reckon that the guy, after demolishing Cornell’s Brian Realbuto 10-2 in the 157-pound finals, would have better things to do than return home for a few days, but that’s what he did. Shortly after winning the title on Saturday, thus completing a perfect 35-0 season, the first freshman to do so since 1999, Martinez, suffering from an onslaught of phone calls, emails and text messages, hopped a plane and came home.
“It think it’s great that he comes right from winning a national championship on the national stage on Saturday, and then comes back to Lemoore where he’s from and helps these kids, and lets them know there are opportunities for them as well,” said Angel Solis, a parent who recently saw his LHS son, also Angel, earn a spot in the recent California State Wrestling championships.
But home he came, not only to visit the folks, but to spend some time in the Lemoore High School wrestling room with some would-be future champions, all of whom donned singlets or workout clothes for a chance to meet the country’s newest national champ - from Lemoore.
About 50 or so kids and adults came by the wrestling room late Thursday afternoon for a sneak peek at the champ, and they left a couple of hours later with a few wrestling tips and a better appreciation for a local boy who has done well, but isn’t too big to spend some time with a bunch of kids.
The former biology major at Illinois, who recently changed his major to sociology says he’s loving it, but he admits his heart will always be in wrestling, and as of this moment in time, he intends to stick with it the rest of his life.
“You know, this sport brought me up, and it’s given me many opportunities. I’d be a fool to leave it,” he said prior to delivering a few words of wrestling wisdom to his friends and young fans. “Growing up as a wrestler in this program at Lemoore, and then going to Illinois, I’ve acquired a lot of skills that pertain to wrestling. It would be a waste for me to go somewhere else when I have so much knowledge to share about this sport. I look forward to mentoring athletes who were probably like me.”
Before his coaching career starts, Isaiah has a few more goals in mind. In addition to another national championship or two – or three, he has his sights set on international competition, and perhaps a gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.
“It’s a world team spot,” he said referring to his quest for international fame and glory. “There are six weight classes and you earn a spot by winning the U.S. Nationals and then the World Team Trials. The top three are on the national team and the number one guy goes and competes. It’s basically the Olympics but it’s every year, and the Olympics are every four years.”
A couple of years ago the World Olympic organization dropped wrestling from the Olympics, but there was a huge firestorm of complaints and wrestling made a hasty retreat back to the Olympics, which pleased Martinez.
“It was devastating at first,” said Martinez. “Yeah I’d like to go to Rio, that would be awesome, but I’m still a college student and the Olympics are in 2016 and I still have a lot of skills to learn.”
Now that Martinez is basking in a national championship glow, was he surprised at how his freshman campaign worked out, particularly his 35-0 record? “If you had asked me that question last year, that I would go 35-0 and be national champion, and score bonus points in 26 of your matches, I would have been a little skeptical, but … as the season went on and I kept winning and plugging away I was dominating. When I was running up on that stage there was no doubt I was going to be a national champion and be undefeated at the end of the year.
“How do you describe, you know, a culmination of years that all led up to that one moment. It was the culmination of 16 years of work which led up that that grandiose accomplishment. It’s the second pinnacle in our sport, only second to the Olympics. It was almost like a relief, a relief that I really proved myself. All my hard work paid off and it was almost indescribable and I was really overcome with joy.”
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