Grab your sunglasses and head on over to an upcoming Cal High wrestling tournament.

Why the sunglasses you may ask? 

Well, as predicted by Cal wrestling Coach Chris Chamberlin, “[This season’s] outlook is good, so bright we gotta wear shades.”

For those who didn’t know, Cal’s wrestling program has been doing immensely well these past two years. The team won its first EBAL title in years  during the 2014-15 season  and placed second last season.

When asked what had led to the team’s success these past few years, each coach had something different to say.

“We’ve got a lot of hustle,” said coach Bobby Rios. “[Plus] we’re doing a lot of off season training.” 

Hard work pays off, considering that last year junior Jonah Perez placed third in league for his weight class of 126 pounds. 

“The main reason we’re doing so well is Coach Chamberlin [who] keeps everything together,” said coach Cooper. 

But Chamberlin, now in his fourth year with the program,  attributes his success to the team’s new attitude.

“[We] don’t fear other teams and we work harder than most teams,” said Chamberlain.

Last season, Cal sent a wrestler to the CIF State Championships for the first time since 2009. 

Gerrick Labra, a 2016 graduate,  competed at the state championships in Bakersfield, where he won two matches before a third-round exit.

Along with Labra, another top competitor is senior Blaine Nye, who wrestles in the heavyweight division. Nye went undefeated in all of his dual meets last year and was league champion.

It’s pretty evident that the wrestlers feel very comfortable out on the mat, knowing that they control their own destiny and have the support of their teammates and coaches. 

“Everyone is super supportive because it’s a team sport, [plus] no one has ever had a perfect record,” said Nye.

“The beautiful thing is that there is no one truly depending on you,” said Luke Nye, Blaine’s younger brother and a sophomore.

Another top returner is senior Evan Rios, the only athlete on the team to have competed at the varsity level for all four years. 

“I want to place in the top three at NCS and go to state,” said Rios. “[However] this season’s been tough with conditioning and coming together.”

The program has been on a rise ever since Chamberlain took over, and they’ll look for another strong showing this season after sending nine wrestlers to NCS a year ago.

Wrestlers said their biggest competition for this season will remain to be De La Salle and Amador Valley. 

With the new changes in the way that league works because of the addition of two schools, Cal is now part of the Valley Division with San Ramon Valley, Dougherty Valley, De La Salle, and Monte Vista. 

Meanwhile, Amador, Dublin, Foothill, and Dougherty are all part of the Mountain Division. The winning school from Valley will battle the winning school from Mountain for the league title at the end of the season.

Aside from league, there is also the EBAL tournament, which remains a 10-team competition with competing teams from the two divisions.

“We have high aspirations,” Cooper said. “We’re gonna win it all.”