Wrestling
Favorite athlete: Jordan Burroughs
Favorite team: Flyers, Eagles, Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Making it to the state finals to end my senior year.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Never have I had an embarrassing moment, and I don’t ever have fun!
Music on iPod: Eminiem, Avicii
Future plans: Wrestle in college, pursue a career
Words to live by: “Can’t means Won’t”
One goal before turning 30: All-American in the NCAA’s
One thing people don’t know about me: I’m Homecoming King for the Class of 2013.
By Mary Jane Souder
Zack Fuentes earned a silver medal in the toughest weight class in the state last weekend. Talk to some, and they’ll argue that the 113-pound bracket at the PIAA State Class AAA championships could well be the toughest in the country.
While that’s an undeniably impressive accomplishment, it’s even more remarkable considering the journey the Norristown senior took to get there.
After capturing the District One Central title, Fuentes, ranked 13th in the nation, had his sights set on the Southeast Regional Tournament and a coveted spot in states, but what he couldn’t have anticipated was that he would be forced to wrestle to keep his high school career alive while decidedly under the weather.
“Right after my finals match at districts the Saturday before regionals, I started feeling really sick,” Fuentes said. “I thought I would just wait it out and hopefully sweat it out at the gym or something.”
By Wednesday, Fuentes had taken a turn for the worse.
“I decided to go to the doctor,” he said. “I should have gone earlier. I cut it real close.”
Close indeed.
Fuentes, according to his coach, was sick as a dog for Friday’s opening round match.
“He wasn’t going to wrestle,” coach Mark Harner said. “I wouldn’t let him ride with the team. I drove him up because he was sick.
“He was okay for about a minute, and he was up 9-0 and then he just died. He’s one of those kids – in wrestling, we call it a gas tank. He’s got a big gas tank. He doesn’t get tired, but for the first time in his life, he saw what it was like to be really tired. He went from 9-0 to 9-6.”
Fuentes won the match but was immediately sent home with his father.
“I felt terrible that whole match, and even after the match, I was throwing up,” he said. “I was honestly considering…not giving up, but I was considering pretty much calling it a day. My mom didn’t want me to get any sicker than I was.
“It was really emotional because I felt so sick. My body ached, and I thought of all the hard work throughout the year, and it could just come to an end because of my sickness. I went home that night and thought about it and decided I was going to go out fighting.”
Fuentes returned the following morning for what promised to be a tough battle with Council Rock South’s Dan Martoccio.
“Martoccio is a ranked kid,” Harner said. “I told Zack on the way up, ‘If you win this match, you’re in the final, you’re going to states, and you’re done. You won’t wrestle the rest of the day.’ That was my lure.
“That Saturday morning match to get him to states was the gut match. That was pressure. If he lost in the final, it wouldn’t have mattered. The Matroccio match was real close. He was hanging by a thread. He was really gassing.”
Fuentes gutted out a 2-1 decision over Martoccio, and his spot in states was secured. That would have been more than enough for some wrestlers but not for Fuentes, who returned for the title match against Pennridge’s Scott Parker, another nationally ranked wrestler at 113. Fuentes earned a 3-1 decision in overtime, and the hard-earned gold medal was his.
“It made it a lot sweeter,” he said. “It was a good win either way – whether I was sick or I wasn’t sick, it felt great.”
“Zack was 100 percent for the final,” Harner said. “Friday night he was just really hurting. He was inconsolable. He saw 12, 13 years of wrestling go up in space. I could see in his face, ‘It’s my senior year. I’m done, my career is over.’
“He looked a little better on Saturday morning, and by Saturday night he was fine. He doesn’t beat Scotty Parker unless he’s 100 percent.”
For Fuentes, getting to states wasn’t the ultimate goal. Winning a gold medal was, but the bracket was a minefield with six wrestlers ranked in the top 20 nationally.
“I think entering that weight class were eight or nine returning state medalists,” Harner said. “One of them didn’t even make it to states.”
“It’s brutal,” Fuentes said. “It’s really brutal having a weight class that tough.”
After winning his first two matches, Fuentes was extended to overtime in his semifinal match against Waynesboro sophomore AC Headlee.
“His match in the semifinals is one of the most exciting matches I ever saw,” Harner said. “He got thrown to his back for five points, and he was down 6-3. He managed to tie it, and in overtime, he was able to call a lateral drop, which – for Zack – is pretty rare.
“He’s a conservative wrestler, and in sudden death to pull off a high risk maneuver like that is pretty amazing.”
“I knew if I lost that there was a good chance I was probably going to lose my next match because the weight class is so deep,” Fuentes said. “Once you lose you’re going into a whole other landmine.
“I think I hit that (lateral drop) twice or three times this year, and two of them were in overtime, which is really not a good time to hit it. I don’t know why I did it. Honestly, I wasn’t thinking at the time. I just felt I had to do something, and I just went for it and hit it. Thankfully, it worked out.”
In the final, Fuentes lost a 3-1 decision to Parkland’s Ethan Lizak, who is ranked ninth in the nation by Flo.
“Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for anything better,” Fuentes said. “I’ve trained my whole life to win states and get gold, but I can’t complain with second, especially in my weight class.
“You could easily go out there and not even place, so I’m really thankful.”
Ask Fuentes how long he’s been wrestling, and he can’t give a definitive answer.
“I just grew up wrestling,” he said. “From what I can remember, I’ve always liked it – I liked practicing, going to tournaments weekends. I never really questioned it. I’ve just always wrestled.”
And he always excelled, never letting the fact that he was small stand in the way.
“At first when I was a little younger, I always hated being small,” said Fuentes, who is 5-5 and weighs 120. “I was always the small guy in the classroom, but through wrestling, I’ve pretty much embraced the fact that I’m small. It hasn’t really bothered me too much.”
Fuentes admits he had some misgivings when he entered high school.
“I was scared I was going to be too small my whole high school career, but I grew into it, which was good, and it worked out well,” he said.
That might be an understatement. Fuentes made an immediate impact, and by the time he was a sophomore, he already had a fourth place finish at states on his resume. Fuentes was fifth in states as a junior and capped a remarkable high school career with this year’s silver medal finish at states. He closed out his senior year with a dazzling 46-5 record.
Quite a career for an athlete who often didn’t have anyone near his weight in the practice room in what is a partner-dependent sport.
Fuentes high school career isn’t quite over. He was chosen to compete in this week’s prestigious Dapper Dan Tournament in Pittsburgh. The tournament pits Pennsylvania against the United States.
Fuentes plans to incorporate college visits to Pitt and Kent State in his trip to the Dapper Dan. He has already visited Lock Haven and plans to visit Drexel in the near future before making a college choice. An honor roll student, he is undecided on a major but is leaning towards accounting.
As impressive as Fuentes is on the mat, he is equally impressive off it. So well liked is he that he was elected the Homecoming King for the Class of 2013.
“Usually that is reserved for a football player,” Harner said. “He’s a super nice kid. This isn’t just coach speak – you’re not going to find anybody that says a bad thing about him. He’s just the nicest kid. I know everybody is a great kid, but this is true.”
Fuentes is part of a close-knit group of wrestlers from Norristown’s youth program that work together year round and have been together since they were youngsters, including teammates Mike Springer and Brett Harner.
“I’m really going to miss it so much,” said Fuentes, whose father runs the youth program. “Our youth program has a lot of kids and their parents and their friends – that whole group supports everyone from Norristown High School’s wrestling team, which is pretty cool.
“The last four years have been really, really fun, and I’m upset that I’m leaving.”
It’s a safe bet the feeling is mutual.
