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Before the start of the Coast Classic, the biggest wrestling tournament held in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League, No.1-seeded (Central Coast Section) Ben Landauer, a senior at San Lorenzo Valley High, expressed a necessary nervous energy as he looked over the sea of wrestlers on the gym floor at Aptos High.
“This is so big,” Landauer said. “There are so many people here — this is like a wrestling zoo.”
As Landauer scoured the field, little did he know that of all the 64 wrestlers from 52 schools — some from the most prestigious schools in the state — he alone would end the day as the tournament champion in the 220-pound weight class.
During the five matches in which Landauer wrestled, no challenger made it past the second round against him. He pinned all five opponents — four of whom were dropped in the first round.
The only wrestler that lasted to the second round was Liberty High School’s Paul Vandergiff, who had upset the No. 3-seeded Frank Ramirez of Aptos on Tuesday.
Landauer didn’t pin Vandergiff in the first, but he did build a 5-0 lead in the first before pinning the junior 28 seconds into the second round for the title.
Last season, Landauer finished fourth at the Central Coast Section wrestling tournament and second in the SCCAL. He missed going to the state meet by just one place as teammate Logan Kellogg attended the prestigious meet to represent the Cougars. Landauer joins a long list of top-ranked area wrestlers from SLV and hopes to earn his place among the elite from the highly touted program.
Over the last three seasons, SLV Head Coach Ken Pollastrini has brought wrestlers to the state meet every year starting with Cody Rodebaugh (140-pound), who won the state title in 2009 and took second as a senior in 2010. Logan Kellogg also attended the state meet both as a junior and senior.
“These guys are special and we have had a good run so far,” Pollastrini said. “Cody, Alex (Kellogg), Logan and hopefully soon we will have another state contender on our hands as Ben comes into his own.”
While the moon is the goal for this gifted wrestler, the journey starts with league dual meets as the Cougars open their league season on Jan. 10 at Soquel starting at 6 p.m. SLV will have one more pre-season tournament at the Apple Cider Classic at Watsonville High on Jan. 6-7 with times to be announced.
