Pechina flourishes this summer

“I just had a pretty crappy (high school) season overall,” Pechina said. “I was just trying to finish it and then see how the offseason goes and make up for the time I lost.”

Pechina’s summer went much better than the school season. Pechina, wrestling with Peninsula Wrestling Club, entered the USA Wrestling California State Tournament and competed in all three wrestling disciplines: folkstyle, which is used at the high school level, freestyle and Greco-Roman, which are both Olympic events.

Folkstyle and freestyle wrestling are very similar. The biggest difference in the ability to incorporate throws into the freestyle.

“Folkstyle is more reserved and more controlled,” said Serra head wrestling coach Mike Klobuchar.

Greco-Roman wrestling is competed with the upper body. Leg contact is not allowed.

Pechina took sixth in the folkstyle event and finished fourth in Greco-Roman to qualify for the national tournament in Fargo, North Dakota in the 152-pound weight class.

“My goal was just to get match time, overall (this summer),” Pechina said. “But going to state and qualifying for Fargo, that was definitely surprising.”

It was a short stay in North Dakota, as Pechina lost his first two matches in the double-elimination tournament, but he believes he grew a lot just from the experience.

“It was definitely different (in Fargo). It was a huge culture shock,” said the Burlingame resident. “You’re surrounded by the best [wrestlers] in the nation. I was watching (the tournament) on YouTube last year and was like, ‘Damn. I’m never going to make it there.”

It should not come as much surprise that Pechina has excelled on the wrestling mat. His father, Mike Pechina Sr., a 1990 South San Francisco High School graduate, was a four-time North Peninsula League champion and qualified for the state tournament all four years. He was also a national judo champion and competed on the U.S. Marine Corps judo and wrestling teams.

Mikey Pechina’s sister Mariah, who is a 2016 Mercy-Burlingame graduate, was a Junior Olympic judo champion and played one year of lacrosse at University of Arizona before joining the Navy, where she is a military police officer.

Much like his son, the elder Pechina was surprised to see him qualify for the national tournament.

“I didn’t think he was going to make it,” Pechina Sr. said, citing the knee injury and moving up two weight classes as the biggest obstacles facing his son.

“He was happy he did. He’s a tough kid. But moving up two weight classes and going against the top guys in the state … I was impressed and surprised at how he performed at the higher weight class.”

The younger Pechina only began competing in freestyle and Greco-Roman last summer, but drew on his own judo experience to quicken the learning curve for Greco-Roman. Like judo, Greco-Roman wrestling features a lot of throws.

“(Learning) freestyle was the hardest,” Pechina Jr. said. “Greco-Roman was pretty easy because I did judo when I was little. I just had to bring that judo style back out.”

Pechina’s strong showing this summer helped make up for a substandard high school season. Now, he is hoping his summer success jump-starts his senior season at Serra.

“My initial goal was to place at CCS, but now I’m trying to qualify for state (my senior season),” Pechina Jr. said. “Me competing with everybody (at the state and national tournaments) just showed that I’m not too far away from those top people (in CCS and state).”