For the first time in 19 years, a Skyline College wrestler stands atop the state championship podium.
Skyline sophomore Stephen Martin swept through three matches to earn the individual gold medal for the 184-pound division at the California Community College Athletic Association State Championship Friday and Saturday at Fresno City College.
Martin becomes the first Skyline wrestler to capture a state title since Joey Martinez, now the head coach at Menlo College, did so in 2000.
“It was just a sense of belief achieving something he set out to do since the beginning of the season,” Skyline assistant coach Sam Temko said. “Just to see him stick with it, his devotion, his wherewithal and commitment, it was wonderful to see it come full circle and to see him win the championship in dominant fashion.”
Martin has personified dominance this season. The 24-year-old sophomore posted a 31-2 record, with his only two losses a result of wrestling out of the community college 184s level. Against community college wrestlers at 184s, he was a perfect 31-0.
Throughout his three wins in Fresno City, Martin surrendered just one point, that coming in his semifinal match Saturday against Cuesta College’s Breck Jeffus. Martin’s 6-1 win saw him levied with a penalty for stalling, meaning none of the three wrestlers he faced earned a point directly off him.
“It’s extremely unique,” Temko said. “You’re at the state championships, you’re wrestling the best in the state … so it’s extremely special to not let the best guys in the state score on you.”
Martin opened the tournament Friday with a 6-0 win over Sierra’s Auston May. Then in Saturday’s championship match, he celebrated after a 7-0 win over Bakersfield’s Jordan Annis.
Martin spent a vast majority of the year as the No. 1-ranked wrestler in the state. This, Temko likened to spending the season as the reigning champion with everybody in the weight class gunning for him.
“Wrestling is never an easy sport,” Temko said. “It’s harder to defend a championship than it is to win one. And I think he did a good job defending it all season long.”
Under the spotlight of Saturday’s championship, Martin went after Annis tactically and evenly. Martin scored takedowns in each of the first two rounds. In the third and final round he added a reversal, “and just rode it out to the end,” Temko said.
With head coach James Haddon having taken over the program in 2001, Martin’s title marked the first of his coaching career.
“[Martin] really secured himself as one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of Skyline wrestling,” Temko said.
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