StoryDiscussionFont Size: Default font size Larger font size BY JIM PETERS
jpeters@nwitimes.com219.548.4363 | Thursday, February 12, 2009 | (No comments posted.)
It took a season-ending loss in last year's regional to make Chris Santos realize he'd made a mistake.
"I definitely wasn't strong enough to wrestle 145," the Portage senior said. "I maintained it pretty good, but I got into my regional match and I got overpowered. I realized what happened and I decided to cut back to my normal weight. I didn't want to take the chance again this year. It made sense and it wasn't that much of a change."
Down to 135, Santos (28-12) won the LaPorte Sectional title and finished second to Crown Point's unbeaten Eric Roach at the LaPorte Regional to qualify for Saturday's Merrillville Semistate. It's the same point he reached as a sophomore 119-pounder, but after a tough season of cutting weight, Santos decided he didn't want to go through it again as a junior.
"He realized toward the end of the year, 'Coach, I messed up, I should've gotten my weight down,'" Portage coach Pat Wilkins said. "He had a lapse. He got out of shape. He was in the wrong weight class."
It's ironic considering Santos weighed more than 160 in middle school.
"He wrestled for Fegely when I was at Willowcreek," Wilkins said. "I remember going against him and he beat us. I was like, 'Who is this guy?'"
The pounds dropped off naturally through hard work for Santos, who started training outside of school as well. Before long, he was a middleweight in a lightweight's body.
"I was used to slower guys," he said. "But I adjusted really quickly."
http://nwi.com/articles/2009/02/12/sports/indiana_prep_sports/doc4156d5903439fa348625755b00127424.txt
