Boys' Wrestler of the Year: Burlingame's Kyle Botelho

“I have to give [him a break from wrestling],” the elder Botelho said. “I don’t want to burn him out.”

But when you’re a wrestler — a true-blue, dedicated grappler — anything other than wrestling is just a diversion.

“I played everything growing up — soccer, baseball, flag football, wrestling,” Kyle Botelho said. “But it was wrestling that drew me (in).”

Wrestling since the age of 6, Botelho has moves that belie his age. Only a sophomore, he is already a two-time Peninsula Athletic League champion, adding the 126-pound title in 2018 to go with his 106 crown last year as a freshman. He parlayed that PAL title into third place at the Central Coast Section championships last month, adding to the fifth-place finish last season. His finish at CCS also earned him a spot in the state meet.

For all his accomplishments, Kyle Botelho is the Daily Journal’s Boys’ Wrestler of the Year.

“Each year is a bigger step. If definitely shows what I need to work on for the following year,” Botelho said. “That’s my drive — to do better every year.”

Botelho had some work to do at CCS this season to improve on last year’s fifth-place finish. And he had to do it right away. After getting a first-round bye, Botelho was beaten 6-4 by Los Gatos’ Nick Rusniak in the second round, dropping Botelho into the consolation bracket of the double-elimination tournament.

“It was a little frustrating (losing that second-round match),” Botelho said. “But I bounced back. You can’t get frustrated by one match.”

With the specter of being eliminated with another loss, Botelho rampaged through the consolation bracket, winning six straight.

“I really wanted third place,” Botelho said.

He started his march with a 16-4 major decision. After a tight 3-1 in his next match, he won his next two matches by a combined 15-3. In the consolation semifinals, he pulled out a 4-3 victory to advance to the consolation final, which he dominated 9-2 to take third place.

Botelho’s post-season success was set up by a strong regular season. Not only did he go undefeated in PAL dual meets and league championship, he also had strong showings in area tournaments. He opened the season by finishing fifth at the Half Moon Bay Peninsula Invitational. He then steadily moved up the tournament ladder: a third-place finish at the Fremont Webber Lawson Memorial Tournament, second at the Cupertino Bianchini before he captured the 126-pound title at the Bert Mar Invite.

At the Gilroy Mid Cals, one of the most important tournaments and usually a harbinger of how the postseason will shake out, Botelho finished 3-2.

It’s no surprise Kyle Botelho is such an advanced grappler at a young age, considering his dad wrestled at Lowell High School in San Francisco and went on to a college wrestling career at San Francisco State. The elder Botelho started working with the Burlingame High School wrestling program at the same time he started the Panther Wrestling Club.

Kyle was a fairly constant figure, tagging along with his dad in those early years.

“When I first started coaching at Burlingame, I would take [Kyle] with me to some of the tournaments and he loved it,” Coach Botelho said.

Despite Botelho’s romp through PAL competition the last two years, he knows it’s not easy. First and foremost, a wrestler has to be willing to put in the work necessary to be successful. It’s no surprise that the best wrestlers are also the hardest workers in the room.

“We understand the work he has to put in. We come up with a recipe and he just follows it,” Coach Botelho said. “[Kyle] has a really good work ethic. You have to be mentally strong because [wrestling at a high level] is a lot of work.”