Daily Journal Athlete of the Week: HMB’s Pluto Halterman

But, oh, what a difference a year makes. Not only did Halterman return to this year’s Dennis Solis Classic to compete in the varsity tournament. The sophomore captured the championship in the 190-pound division Saturday, going 3-0 on the day, with a big finish by pinning Pittsburg junior Cecilia Chatman in the final minute of the third period.

“I was just relieved I didn’t pass out or get pinned,” Halterman said. “So, when I was able to pin her, I was super surprised and happy. ... But, honestly, I did not expect that to happen, especially in such a short time.”

Halterman’s relief was well earned. She never led on the scorecard against the uber aggressive Chatman, and was trailing 8-6 at the midway mark of the third period. After Chatman had scored on two reversals earlier in the match, Halterman chose the bottom position to start the final period, and was suddenly fending off “the butcher,” a clasp maneuver that is difficult to escape and can be used to run out a clock.

Then, just like that, Halterman turned the tables. Sensing her opponent was off balance, she took a deep breath and twisted her way loose, reversing Chatman onto her shoulders to earn the pin.

“People were going crazy,” Half Moon Bay coach Ronnie Ekis said. “The other girl had a big score. All our kids and parents were over there watching. It was a very fun match to watch. Very entertaining.”

Halterman was the only one sporting orange and black not going crazy, though she and Ekis offered different explanations of why.

“Pluto, she’s an extremely kind person, so she just helped the girl up,” Ekis said. “But she was excited to win.”

It wasn’t so much good manners, Halterman said, but the fact that she was gassed after a grueling match.

“Yeah, I was really tired after the match,” Halterman said. “It was kind of a blur, honestly.”

Halterman was lucky she had a coach in her corner at all.

The venue at Castro Valley High School was using two gyms to accommodate the 67 teams in attendance. The championship matches were scheduled to be held on the center mat in the main gym, which is where Ekis was when he received a surprise text from one of his wrestlers. It informed him Halterman was taking the floor for her title match on a corner mat in the auxiliary gym.

Ekis hustled over to Halterman’s corner, where it turned out his sophomore benefitted from his coaching expertise. Facing Chatman for the second straight week — the two met in the semifinals of the Webber Lawson Girls Varsity Tournament, with Halterman winning via pin in the second round — the HMB sophomore found herself getting harassed from the outset of the Saturday’s rematch.

“She was pretty tough,” Halterman said. “She’s really strong. She went right after me in the beginning. ... It’s kind of her thing. She just jumps at you. It’s kind of scary.”

Halterman is still growing accustomed to the “scary” part of wrestling. She doesn’t have much experience in combat sports. Prior to joining the HMB wrestling team as a wide-eyed freshman, her only experience was a quick try at boxing classes when she was in seventh grade — “I just thought it’d be fun, punching something,” she said — but she hung up her gloves before ever competing in an organized bout.

When she arrived at HMB, wrestling wasn’t something she set out to do. Halterman quickly found out Coastside athletes take their wrestling quite seriously, though.

“My friends peer-pressured me,” Halterman said. “They were like: ‘You would be so good! You should join!’”

At a wiry 5-10, Halterman certainly looks the part. She also garnered some name recognition on campus. An older sibling will have that effect. It didn’t hurt, her brother Adler, now a senior, was a standout in the HMB football program. Little did she know the peer pressure was the usual recruiting spiel HMB wrestlers use to sustain their strong roster numbers.

“They just needed more people to join, but I’m glad I did,” Halterman said. “It’s been a lot of fun since.”

Proving to be a quick study, Halterman moved up to the varsity squad by the end of her freshman year. She excelled in the postseason, winning the 170s bracket at the Central Coast Section Northern Regional qualifiers. She ultimately went 2-2 in the CCS Masters finals.

Now, one season later, she’s giving the HMB brass reason to be excited after becoming the program’s third wrestler all-time to win a title at the Dennis Solis Classic. The previous two — sisters Taylor Micallef and Jamie Micallef — both went on to medal at the CCS championships.

“I’m just really excited,” Ekis said. “She’s only a sophomore. ... Just her progression from last year to this year has been phenomenal. I don’t think she’s even got close to the peak of her potential.”