Skyline grappler etching quite the comeback story

This was the case for Skyline College sophomore Stephen Martin, who returned to action this season at the age of 24. After advancing to the California Community College Athletic Association Wrestling Championships as a freshman in 2015, Martin is returning to the big dance Friday at Fresno City College.

“I’d be lying if I said if I wasn’t a little bit nervous,” Martin said. “There’s a lot good talent there. It’s not going to be cake walk.”

Martin qualified for the state tournament in the 184-pound division after capturing the Northern California Regional Championship individual title last Saturday at San Joaquin Delta College. After scoring a first-round pin of Chabot’s Gurbir Dhaliwal, he scored a 7-0 decision over Santa Rosa’s Bobby Mello, then a 7-1 decision in the championship match against Lassen’s Russell Rucklos.

The sophomore’s record now stands at 28-2 this season. Of those two losses, one was wrestling up a weight class against Northern California 197 runner-up Hunter Gonzalez of Sierra. The other loss was against Menlo College’s Anthony Orozco, an NAIA junior who last season was named the Cascade Collegiate Conference Wrestler of the Year.

In other words, Martin is undefeated against community college wrestlers in his weight class this season.

“He hasn’t really given up too many points against guys actually scoring against him,” Skyline assistant coach Sam Temko said. “For the most part he’s been pretty dominant this season.”

A 2014 graduate of Gunn-Palo Alto, Martin was a three-year varsity wrestler in high school. While he did reach the CIF State Wrestling Championships as a senior, he fell shy of ever winning a section or state title. He went 1-2 at the 2013-14 state tournament. Prior to that, he twice reached the Central Coast Section podium, taking fourth place as a junior before finishing as the runner-up at 182s after a 2-0 loss to Gilroy junior Mark Penyacsek in the finals.

After his senior year, Martin didn’t have any ambition to wrestle collegiately, he said. He was simply competing on the folkstyle club circuit for the fun of it when he was approached by a coach from the Skyline College men’s team. Martin figured if it was a way to keep competing so he’d give it a go. The thought of ever competing at the state level, however, wasn’t on his radar.

“Not really,” Martin said. “I didn’t think I would make it this far.”

After his freshman season, Martin navigated away from the collegiate mat and toward the cage. He’d go on to log five MMA fights until suffering a serious injury during jujitsu tournament in 2017. The injury put him out of commission for nine months.

“It kind of shook me and rocked my confidence for a while,” Martin said. “It really made me rethink everything.”

Martin had remained enrolled in school, attending classes at College of San Mateo between 2016-18, and during his downtime the thought of returning to the collegiate wrestling ranks started holding more and more appeal.

“I wanted to come back for sure,” Martin said. “I thought about just kind of ending my wrestling career. But I didn’t want to like look back 15 years later and realize I didn’t finish out the full two years when I had the chance.”

Upon his return to Skyline — older and wiser, sure, but maintaining the same weight he had as a high school wrestler — Martin had an immediate impact on a team that carried just six wrestlers this season.

“He pretty much hit the ground running (this year),” Temko said. “He kind of lives that martial artist, athletic lifestyle. He’s pretty disciplined. So he came in ready.”

Not that Martin hasn’t made strides since then.

“I think he’s in the best a shape I’ve ever seen him in now,” Temko said. “But he definitely came in in great shape.”

Skyline is sending two wrestlers to the state tournament, half as many as last season. Along with Martin, freshman Nico Cappabianca (Serra) took sixth place in 149s at the Northern California tournament to earn the last bid to the state tourney.

Last year, Skyline returned from the state tourney with two All-American nods, as Ramon Guzman (heavyweight) and Ezra Clark (141s) each took third place in their respective divisions.