As the Wrestling mats are rolled up and stored away, one Rocklin High athlete had the opportunity to compete for a state championship.

Hunter Gonzalez is a senior at Rocklin High and competed in Bakersfield for a state title on Friday, March 3rd. He entered the tournament ranked 10 in his weight class. This tournament capped off a superb season for Hunter in which he won the League title, the Divisional title and got second in Masters. The most memorable match of his season also occurred during the state tournament. He entered the contest as a huge underdog, but came out and absolutely dominated his opponent.

Among the numerous accolades that Hunter was decorated with this season, Hunter also went undefeated against his personal rival, Nolan Stabbert from Granite Bay. “It was an amazing experience,” says Hunter, “It felt especially good to beat my rival Nolan Stabbert 4 times this season as well as beating him for the league title.”

Hunter has been a multisport athlete for almost his whole life, with a total of 10 years of experience playing football and wrestling. His love and dedication to wrestling is unparalleled, which as a state ranked wrestler is almost a given that he must push himself day in and day out to compete. He says, “If you want to be one of the toughest people and work harder than anyone else I recommend it. But to just show up to be on the team, it is definitely not for you.” 

The next wrestling season for Rocklin High will hopefully be another successful one, and the program hopes to send even more wrestlers to state next season.