Nick Nevills – Clovis HS
By Nick Giannandrea — The Fresno Bee
California’s best high school wrestling team three years running is drawing national accolades, too.
Amateur Wrestling News named Clovis High as its mythical Public Schools National Champion, while the National High School Coaches Association selected Steve Tirapelle as its Wrestling Coach of the Year.
The national honors come after Clovis won its third straight and overall record 11th CIF State Wrestling Championships team title in March, getting 174 points from its 12 qualifiers.
Nick Nevills (285 pounds) and Adrian Salas (182) each captured individual titles for a Cougars team that also had Khristian Olivas (fourth at 113), Jonas Gaytan (third at 120) and Jason Ladd (fifth at 145) earn medals.
“It’s always a thrill and honor for the program to be recognized,” Tirapelle said. “It just goes to show the quality of people around the program. (Assistants) Ben (Holscher) and Adam (Tirapelle) and the others, and all the kids.”
Adrian Salas – Clovis HS
Clovis was No. 2 in the final AWN Prep 40 behind Blair Academy-Blairstown, N.J., a private boarding school.
After finishing the 2012 season at No. 5 in the AWN poll, the Cougars received a rankings boost when they finished ahead of then-No. 2 Wyoming Seminary Preparatory School of Kingston, Penn., at the Doc Buchanan Invitational in January.
It was one six regular-season tournament titles for Clovis, which went on to win the Tri-River Athletic Conference, Yosemite Divisional and Masters championships.
All of which add to the legacy engineered by Tirapelle, who has directed the Cougars to five state team titles while coaching 18 individual state champions and 76 medalists in 16 seasons with Clovis since arriving from Sacramento’s Hiram Johnson High.
“Coach Tirapelle and his family have set a level of excellence in California and the nation that makes Clovis High School one of the top programs each year,” said Bob Ferraro, executive director of the NHSCA. “We are proud to honor Coach Tirapelle not only for his work on the mat, but also his drive to turn out top quality student-athletes.”
Tirapelle is the second Californian to be the NHSCA Wrestling Coach of the Year since it began giving the honor in 1998. Bakersfield’s David East won in 2002.
Jonas Gaytan – Clovis HS
“I’m not huge on personal awards,” Tirapelle said. “But it’s good that it brings notoriety to the good things the kids and the program have accomplished.”
