It’s a familiar road for the Fresno City College wrestling program.
After back to back state championship titles, the Rams are once again the team to beat. And like the previous years, they have brushed off the pressure to focus on yet another pursuit of a state championship.
For head coach Paul Keysaw, a title this year would mean a total of five state championships since he became coach of the Rams in 2006. Additionally The Rams have also won the State Dual Meet Championship in 2006, 2010 and 2011.
With each season comes a higher level of expectation for the Rams. Though that doesn’t make the goal any easier, it hasn’t stopped Keysaw from inspiring his players.
“You don’t get to where we’re at without being successful against a lot of teams that want to beat us. They(the players) have a lot of teams that want to beat them and they have to put their best foot forward every time they go on the mat,” said Keysaw. “That’s part of being a Ram. We’re embracing that challenge. I’m trying to help them understand, we can’t be afraid of this. We gotta keep this up and take it as far as we can.”
This year’s team, which features many freshmen, is already learning to embrace the tradition of wrestling at FCC. The players, old and new, have made it a mission to go into every match proudly bearing the name “Fresno City College.”
“We’re a very young team this year so we have grown quite a bit. A lot of it has to do with getting experience and getting our feet wet.
The better condition we’re in, the more confident we get,” said Keysaw.
“I’m pleased where we’re at but we have a lot of room to grow. We can get better for sure. We have to get better at scrambling, putting moves together and I’d like us to get a few more bonus points in pins.”
While he is pleased with the growth of the freshmen, Keysaw credits the sophomores for paving the way and giving the freshmen a heads up on what to expect.
“A lot of our success is those sophomores. Part of the tradition at (FCC) and the reason we had success in the past five years is because of the ability to keep people around for that second year.
Sophomores make a big difference on the team,” said Keysaw.
One of those sophomores is Spencer Hill.
“We have been showing them the ropes, helping them adjust and helping them with workouts-,” said Hill, who is currently ranked No.1 in the state in the 149 pound weight class.
On Oct. 20 Hill won his match by forfeit and helped the Rams defeat Lassen 51-0. He had another victory by forfeit as the Rams defeated Skyline 53-0.
Early in the season, Hill took first in the 149 pound class as the Rams finished first in the Sacramento City College Tournament.
“We expected to be on top for the whole season. We are ranked N0.1 right now. That’s where we want to be,” said Hill.
Matt Hickman, Will Gockel-Fiagge, Alonzo Ruiz, and Brady Bersano are also a few other wrestlers that have helped the Rams excel so far this season.
Hickman is ranked No. 2 in the 165 pound class, while Bersano is No. 2 in the 157 pound class, Gockel-Fiagge is No.4 in the 184 pound class and Ruiz has an honorable mention in the 197 pound class.
