Granada Hills, Crespi Will Field Three New Varsity Athletic Teams

Granada Hills High will field wrestling and swimming teams for the first time since 1982, and Crespi will have a varsity wrestling program for the first time, school officials said Tuesday.

The wrestling season begins in November, and swimming begins in February.

At Granada Hills, Bill Lake will coach the wrestling team and Tom Wagner will coach the swimming team, according to Don Stone, administrator for athletics. Lake coached wrestling for 11 years at four City Section high schools. Wagner is a biology teacher at Granada Hills with experience as an Amateur Athletic Union swimming coach.

Crespi’s wrestling coaches will be Doug Semones and Joel Wilker, Athletic Director Paul Muff announced. Semones coached the school’s club wrestling team last year.

The wrestling program at Granada Hills was dropped four years ago because of low turnout, but interest has revived, said Lake, who also serves as an assistant football coach.

“I’ve got about 50 kids out for the team not counting football players,” Lake said. “I’ve been recruiting them around campus for the last year. Kids have been asking about wrestling when they come in as 10th graders, so I know the interest is there.”

Although Granada Hills did not have a team last season, sophomore Janae Lautenschlager won the City Section diving championship. Lautenschlager participated as an independent in competitions Granada Hills would have been eligible for if it had a team. She returns this season.