Since then, the Half Moon Bay High School junior wrestler has been on the mat every day.
Claitor has maintained an intense practice schedule since qualifying for the California Interscholastic Federation Wrestling meet. He finally gets a chance to show his stuff against 39 other wrestlers, including three from the Central Coast Section, starting Friday in Bakersfield.
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Claitor finished second at the two-day CCS meet, held Feb. 19-20.
Most of practices the last two weeks have taken place at Lynbrook High School in San Jose. Between school and practice, he hasn’t given much thought to what it means to be the 11th wrestler in school history to qualify for state meet.
He has thought about how grateful he is that the CCS meet was held when it was held. All the other nine sections held their tournaments last weekend.
“I might have a slight edge over them,” Claitor said.
Though somewhat well known in the CCS and part of the North Coast Section, Claitor is an unknown quantity to the rest of the state. Claitor goes to the state meet unranked by the Web site, Californiawrestler.com, though his is ranked second in the CCS. Mecate, a junior, is ranked fifth in the state.
“My goal is to go there and get as much experience as possible,” Claitor said. “I am going to use the meet to prepare for next year.”
It could still be a challenge for him, as only five of the 16 mentioned in the rankings are seniors.
Claitor hasn’t used the two weeks of practice just to stay in shape. He has been working on some technical moves.
“I am going to do the best I can,” Claitor said. “This is big. I’m going to try not to get too nervous.”
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