Daniel Sifuentez was direct: “Wrestling is one of the hardest sports in the world.”
After a 12-year stint in the Air Force, Sifuentez has returned to his alma mater of San Marcos to coach the Royals’ wrestling team.
He’s instilling a strong work ethic, discipline and leadership.
“I was a sergeant in the Air Force for about 12 years, so I have a lot of experience in leadership,” he said at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon. “I’ve been working hard with these boys.”
The Royals are off to a 5-0 start. They open Channel League dual meet competition on Wednesday at Santa Barbara.
Adrian Macias has been working hard over the last three years to create a wrestling culture and build a solid program at Santa Barbara High.
Macias said this year’s team has bought in to his plan.
“It’s an especially exciting year because in my first year (the athletes) hardly knew what went into being a wrestler,” he said. “This group of athletes actually understands the discipline that is required to be a wrestler. Like (Sifuentez) said, it’s one of the hardest sports out there.
“I’m really excited with this group of athletes and our future because this is the first team we’ve had that truly knows what it means to be a wrestler. “A lot of the micromanaging of behavior issues is no longer a problem. Now our coaching staff gets to coach.
“These athletes, win or lose, after every match they ask us, ‘What can we do better?’
“We can’t ask for anything else than that.”
Santa Barbara High girls basketball coach Andrew Butcher share a teaching moment, explaining to his players that “great teams are best when they’re behind,” he said. “You’re good when you’re ahead but when you get behind that’s when you’re really good.
“So, we get behind in every game,” he cracked. “I got to explain to them you don’t want to be behind, but when it happens that’s when you want to be the best.”
He added that after losing a close game against an experienced Piedmont team at the Bryan Ayers Classic in Lompoc the Piedmont coach gave him a compliment.
“The coach told me he showed last year’s game film to a lot of the Northern California teams because they liked our style of play and they’re trying to emulate it,” he said. “I told him not to show this year’s game film.”
San Marcos girls water polo coach Chuckie Roth said his team traditionally starts the season slow, but he was encouraged by how the Royals played during a weekend of games against powerhouse teams from Orange County and San Diego. The Royals, the CIF-SS Division 1 champions last year, lost a 12-9 game against Corona del Mar on Friday and went 1-2 on Saturday, beating San Diego’s Cathedral Catholic (12-8) and losing to Mater (11-10 in OT) and Foothill (13-11).
“We played three games in a day and to be able to go head to head with teams from Orange County that were playing just one game that day, it’s a real testament to what we’ll be able to achieve this season.”
Dos Pueblos, which hosted the weekend water polo games, lost to the Orange County powerhouses (Foothill, Mater Dei and Corona del Mar) before beating Cathedral Catholic.
“We competed a lot better as we went on,” said coach Connor Levoff. “I thought we were a lot more cohesive and coherent as the weekend went on.”
The Chargers are breaking in a new group.
“We have an interesting mix of some really experienced players and some players who have been a part of our program but haven’t been featured in year’s past,” Levoff explained. “They’re being asked to step into new more meaningful, extensive roles and take on more responsibility and leadership.
“I think actually playing some competitive games was a good step for them, because we did a lot of watching in the game rather than participating and that improved as the weekend went on. I think we’re on the right path of breaking old habits and starting some new successful positive ones.”
Sophomore Lauren Tsuneishi is one of the few experienced players on the Westmont women’s basketball team, and coach Kirsten Moore couldn’t say enough about her importance to the team.
“She’s been an incredible leader as a returner and trying to get the freshmen up to speed and teaching and showing them what it looks like to work hard every day, and do it with a team-team-first attitude.
“She’s a coach’s dream, and can obviously really shoot the ball, too.”
Tsuneishi buried 10 three-pointers in Westmont wins at Arizona Christian and Ottawa of Arizona to open GSAC play. The Warriors made a school-record 17 against Ottawa.
“When a team zones us, look out, cause every single guard for us as well as our posts can shoot the three,” said Moore.
The Warriors have another big GSAC game on the road Saturday, playing at NAIA top-ranked Vanguard. The Lions include former Santa Barbara High star Alondra Jimenez.
UCSB women’s basketball assistant Eliza Pierre said the Gauchos are climbing. They are coming off a 66-55 win over Grand Canyon at the Thunderdome for their second victory of the season.
“We’re honoring the process,” Pierre said. “Trust the process and we get a home win. That’s what we’ve preaching and it felt really good to get one in our house.
“We have ballers,” she added. “I feel pretty good about the season.”
Here’s what the coaches said about the athletes they brought to the press luncheon:
Santa Barbara High Wrestling
Adrian Macias on Robert De La Guerra: “He once wrestled in the195-pound weight class and now he’s at 132, showing that self discipline that goes with being a wrestler.”
On Edgar Diego: “He placed seventh at the Newbury Park Invitational. It was first time placing at a major varsity tournament, so we’re excited for his season.”
On Oscar Munoz: “He’s a defending league champion. He had the No. 1 seed at Newbury Park, took him into the third period and almost beat him — lost by two points. Next time, we’ll get him, Oscar.”
On Brandon “Killer B” Lazcano: He placed third (at 106 pounds) at Newbury Park. He almost beat some highly ranked guys in the state.”
San Marcos Wrestling
Coach Daniel Sifuentez on Miguel Sanchez: “He’s very very unorthodox wrestler — it’s very hard to coach that kid. He can pop shoulders out, he can roll. … He’s so frickin hard to coach. I’m yelling and he looks at me and smiles and just pins the kid. He’s 5-0 and doing really well.”
On Brandon Gonzalez: “The heart and soul of our team. That kid is amazing. He does all the extra things with me. He hits the gym after practice 4-5 days a week; we do a lot of time management on personal development and leadership skills.
I’m proud to coach both these kids.”
San Marcos Girls Water Polo
Coach Chuckie Roth on senior Fiona Kuesis: “It’s hard for me to believe she’s a senior. She’s a two-sport all-American as a swimmer and a water polo player. Just does a phenomenal job in everything she does. Academically, she’s in the top 10 in her class. She’ll be attending UCLA in the fall and play water polo for the Bruins.”
On junior Megan Musick: “She’s a left-handed attacker for us, which is a huge advantage in all sports, but especially in water polo. That pays a lot of dividends. Without these two girls and the rest of my squad we would have a really hard time matching up with some of these other teams.”
Carpinteria Girls Water Polo
Coach Sergio Castaneda on sophomore Cassidy Hajducko: “She’s definitely a main component in our team. She’s super strong, super smart, communicates a lot, organizes the team in general. Super, super good attitude, really good morale, and just benefits the team all around.”
On Lexi Persoon: “She’s mainly a swimmer but somehow she was convinced to come out for water polo this year, and she’s been kicking butt. We put her in hole set to see how she would do and stops people all day long. She’s been doing really, really well. As we go, we’ll see out it turns out.”
Santa Barbara Water Polo
Coach Mark Walsh on senior Anna Hepp: “She has been a big part of our team since sophomore year. Every year, her role grows with us, she does a lot of different things for us. She’s a really steady player. I feel fortunate to put her in different situations and she can handle it.”
On senior Jordan Duggan: “She’s a big part of our offense. She’s one of our best shooters and sets. She’s stepped into a position she hasn’t done a ton of, but she’s doing a great job of it.”
Santa Barbara High Girls Basketball
Coach Andrew Butcher on junior Mireya Gil: “One of our captains. She plays with ton of energy and is really a great person.”
On senior Grace deBruynkops: “She’s a rebounder for us. So many girls have been raised to be sharing, and stealing is bad. I tell her in sports it’s kind of the opposite thing, you can steal and you can bump and she’s figuring that out.”
On junior captain Maya Banks: “She’s 5-foot-5 and she’s our starting center. She had 20 rebounds in our last game against a 6-2 girl. Everyone she plays against she’s a head shorter and she just battles. The referee came up to me the last game and said, ‘That girl goes after it.’ To me, that’s exciting.”
San Marcos Girls Basketball
Coach Chris Hantgin on Yoselin Ortega: “Tremendous attitude, works hard, does well in the classroom, just a great, great teammate. She’s also a really good listener, so I feel confident putting her in the game because I know she’s going to do her best.”
On Alyssa Miller: “Another quality character person. She does outstanding in the classroom. Both of these girls are easy to coach, they’re committed, they work hard. If they don’t know things they ask questions.”
Carpinteria Girls Basketball
Coach Benti Delacruz on junior Jasmine Gutierrez: “Great student, great listener, great at taking directions, very coachable, I’m really excited how she’s going to do this year. She’s a very positive girl, a girl I can see taking a leadership role.”
On sophomore Hannia Hernandez: “She can honestly have potential to play any position. She’s athletic. She’s 5-5 1/2 and she can even play center.”
Bishop Diego Girls Basketball
Coach Jeff Burich on Alyssa Villa, who was wearing a cast. “In the last minute of the final game of the Bird Cage Classic, she goes down and fractures her wrist. It’s hard to see because she didn’t play last year to recover from injuries. She worked well in practice, played hard and got into the starting lineup and was our leading scorer for a couple of games. We hope we get her back in middle of league in January. Just a great player to have. We’re going to miss her energy and enthusiasm.
On Taylor Pate: “She’s a really good shooter for us. She brings a great attitude to practice and to the games. Half our practices we’ve had five girls, but those two are always at practice every time. It’s great they’re shaping and showing the kids that are there and healthy how to practice and how to get better and how to improve.”
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