Shane Valdez Quotations

We were definitely happy. It's always good to come home with two medalists, so we're proud of them. They've put in a lot of work the last five years, and it's paid off.

Luke is extremely hard to score on. He's got good solid takedowns, he's solid on top and he's very hard to take down.

Jake has grown a lot this year. He's getting taller and starting to fill out, so it's been a challenge to determine what weight class we're going to put him at.

I think that's the first time since I've been here that we had everyone qualify.

Kyle has been great to have on the team the last four years. He carries a 4.4 grade point average and I love the fact we have a kid who shows you can be an athlete and you can be a scholar at the same time. He does it in both realms.

Our goal is always to make it to state. Winning here is a nice bonus, but you could finish sixth here and still win state.

I still think if they were to wrestle 10 times, they'd each win five times. Welch just happened to win this one. They're so even. I think you're going to see them battling each other in freestyle, and even in college, for a while.

I thought Luke wrestled great. Lucas is solid and Luke pretty much handled him. He's right where we want him to be going into state - healthy, confident and feeling strong.

This was huge for Luke - especially for his confidence. He's worked so hard. It's huge to go into the state tournament with the confidence that he's the best wrestler in the state.

The whole reason we go to this tournament is to prepare for state. The top kids in every weight class go to the tournament and its a good chance to get a look at everybody.

Zach's a very talented wrestler. That is going to be a loaded weight class at section. But throughout the state, there's six to eight guys who are pretty solid and no one guy has separated himself from the rest. I'm hoping Zach might be that one guy.

The week before league he asked if he could wrestle at 173 pounds and go varsity, and here he is going to the section tournament now. He's wrestling light. He only weighed in at 166, 167 ... but he looked awesome today.

All of our duals are hard fought wins. We have a couple of holes in our lineup. Luckily, they had two forfeits also.

It was a good tournament, especially for some of the guys like Zach and Shane. This is the first year for them to try and break out and become solid varsity wrestlers.

They are great kids who have worked very, very hard. They are examples of what we try to preach as coaches, that if you set some goals, set your mind to it and work hard, you can accomplish anything.

They want to win it. The higher you place here, the better spot you get at state. And they want to come out of here with No. 1 seeds.

Not too many kids in California get to be up on that victory stand.

I'm excited for both those guys. They've earned it. They're looking tough and they're going to state, now they want to see how high they can go.

I know Zach has been coughing, but the thing is, you've got to wrestle the way you are. Nobody cares about excuses this time of year. You just have to get it done, and I don't think Zach let that bring him down. He was ready for that match.

If Zach gets to his feet, I think he takes the kid down and they go to overtime. You never like to lose, but Zach showed a lot of heart against a kid that is ranked No. 2 in the state and he learned a lot. Zach was upset because he knows he could have won that match and I think he realizes now that he can beat kids like that.

He's tough enough to win league. That should be a real interesting weight class. It's very balanced, and Bill is right there in the mix.

This is a good tournament, especially for our younger kids. We should have a lot of qualifiers.