Clovis High's wrestling program is a winner

FRESNO, Calif.

And it hasn't lost outside of the state tournament since 2006.

"If you come in here each and every day, and work as hard as you can, then you can be the best you can be, and you can reach all the goals you want to reach." said junior wrestler Nick Nevills.

But there's a lot more that goes into the outstanding results on paper and on the walls of the cougar wrestling room.

"With the quality of assistant we have and the people that work together as a unit, we've been pretty fortunate to have the success that we've had over the years." said head coach Steve Tirapelle

And then there's the athletes. Clovis wrestlers aren't all naturals like Nick Nevills, who won a state title as a freshman and finished third last year as a sophomore.

These cougars work harder and longer than any other group in the valley, maybe even the state.

"Our training. we train really hard. Do everything we can, extra workouts, the extra drive that we need to win the match." added senior wrestler Jonas Gaytan.

They've bought into coach Tirapelle's three pillars of success: commitment, work ethic and ability. Leading to back to back CIF state titles.

"Good role models and good leaders, and kids that worked hard. that kind of got the rest of the group on the same format. and it just kind of all came together at the right time. it jelled." said Tirapelle.

Year in and year out, the Cougars take it upon themselves to learn leadership from those before them and teach it to those behind them.

"I try my best to motivate every one as much as i can. a lot of people look up to me. i see it and i just do everything i can to show them if i can do it they can do it." said Gaytan.

And after two straight outstanding freshman classes, don't expect the machine that is Clovis Wrestling to slow down anytime soon.

"We have a chance to get four and be the second team in California to ever get four in a row, which would be absolutely huge for us." added Nevills.

"We're looking to win. But if we're competitive i think most of the other programs will look and say 'we've got to beat Clovis to win.'" said Tirapelle.

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