History Doesn’t Repeat : Santana Is Back on the Mat Despite Another Injury

ORANGE —  It was a brief moment. Nevertheless, Aaron Santana couldn’t help feeling that this had happened before.

First came the pop. Then the intense pain, which dropped Santana to the mat. He clutched his left ankle.

“When I felt that pain, I stopped wrestling,” said Santana, a senior at El Modena High. “At first I thought it was just a sprain and I would continue wrestling, but when I tried to stand on it, it really hurt.”

The referee stopped the match in the first period and awarded the victory to Santana’s opponent, ruling it an injury default. But for Santana, the county’s top-ranked wrestler at 171 pounds, the loss was the least of his concerns. Sure, it occurred on Feb. 10 in the finals of the Southern Section Division I dual meet championships against eventual winner Calvary Chapel. More importantly to Santana, however, it signaled another disastrous end to a wrestling season.

Last season, before Century League finals, Santana and his coach at El Modena, Alan Clinton, decided Santana should cut his weight from 160 to 154 pounds.

But he failed to cut it and was ruled ineligible for the postseason.

“I was devastated,” Santana recalled. “I was only a half-pound over. I tried so hard to lose it, but I was feeling sick. I felt like everything came to an end.”

It had, and it was happening again, or so he thought.

“I must say last season did cross my mind when I was hobbling around,” said Santana, 17.

X-rays, however, revealed his injury was only a sprain, and he would be able to continue to wrestle this season.

On Saturday, Santana beat Carlos Gonzalez of Ventura, 5-3, in the 171-pound championship match of the Southern Section Division I finals.

After last season’s disappointment, Santana committed himself to reaching the state finals this season.

“Aaron is a very strong kid,” Clinton said. “I was concerned for a while [after the injury], but he’s doing very well in practice and I think he’ll do very well at Masters.”

Santana was introduced to wrestling by his brother, Danny, who finished third at the state tournament in 1991 for El Modena. Aaron joined a school program when he was in the fifth grade.

“I’ve always loved wrestling,” he said. “And with my brother, it made it even more appealing.”

Santana would like to continue his wrestling in the spring, when he plans to work out with the Thunder Club, which is run by Calvary Chapel Coach John Azevedo. His goal is to make the national freestyle team, which competes throughout spring and summer.

Santana is a two-sport star for the Vanguards. As the starting tailback on the football team last fall, he rushed for 842 yards.

“I like both sports but they are very different,” Santana said. “In football you have a different environment. There’s the stadium and all the people who watch the game. But in wrestling, the sport requires so much commitment and sacrifice. There’s a definite work ethic that is required in wrestling if you want to succeed.”

Clinton says Santana is ferocious when it comes to working out, noting that he is clearly ahead of everybody when it comes to commitment.

“He doesn’t just work out in the wrestling room,” Clinton said.

Santana’s day begins at 6 a.m. with a three-mile run. After that, he spends at least 45 minutes lifting weights. After school, he spends another three hours in drills and practices with the team.

Santana practices on the mat against his brother, who’s an assistant coach at El Modena, and two teammates, seniors Dan Kingman (180 pounds) and Nick Long (160).

“I get a good workout with those three, but that’s what I need,” Santana said. ‘I’m really into the training and ethics that wrestling requires. When you train hard, you can see the results on the mat. But that’s what it takes if you want to be a champion.”

Clinton says his prized pupil has come a long way since last year.

“He not only has good natural strength, but he also has improved his mental attitude,” Clinton said. “He’s one of our team leaders.”