Grand Terrace High School Students Place in CIF SS Northern Division Individual Championships

GRAND TERRACE>> On Friday, Feb. 10 and Saturday, Feb. 11, Grand Terrace High School hosted the CIF SS Northern Division Individual Championships for their third year. To prepare for this year’s championships the Titan’s wrestling team trained for 10 months and also trained during their off season. “Wrestling is a tough sport, it takes a lot of physical and mental strength,” said Coach John Odenbaugh, Grand Terrace High School Wrestling coach. Odenbaugh stated that mental toughness is extremely important for his team and there are challenges every year that the team must face. “We treat the issues as coaching moments, we teach the kids to face adversity head on and keeping moving forward. These are life lessons,” Odenbaugh said. By the end of the championship, Grand Terrace High School placed 15th in the CIF SS Northern Division championship. Grand Terrace also had two wrestler place: David Hernandez, Titan’s wrestler, placed sixth in the 138 weight class. Anthony Vargas, Titan’s wrestler, won the Individual CIF Champion in the Heavyweight Division, which made him Grand Terrace High School’s first Individual CIF Champion. Odenbaugh said the competition had many tough matches but in some matches the lower ranked kid would win because they wanted it more which goes back to his statement on mental toughness. “Having Anthony win the title is a great feeling; we put in a lot of hard work in the wrestling room. His win proves our hard work pays off,” Odenbaugh stated. Odenbaugh said Vargas is a fine young man who earned his victory in the championship and believes he will be successful in life in whatever he chooses for his future. "The GTHS wrestling program has come a long way and we will continue to work hard, not only to be more successful but to produce quality men and women," Odenbaugh declared.