A new sport has opened up at HCISD. Wrestling has been added to the list of sports offered in the district.
Coach Rey De Leon from Harlingen High School advocated to bring the sport to the district.
“This could be an opportunity, especially down here in the Valley, for student-athletes to get scholarships,” De Leon said.
The Cardinal campus and the Hawk campus had new and identical portable buildings installed near their field houses. That is where the wrestling teams practice.
The portables are equipped with mats that cover the entire floor space, padded walls, and the team, names, colors, and logos decorate the interior space.
“We wanted to make sure that wrestling had sufficient space to where it was just going to be pretty much our own,” Harlingen South coach Jaime Salazar said. “We don’t have to roll out mats in other areas. We have that area available to us, and we can just jump in there when we need to.”
Harlingen High School and Harlingen High School South both have a boys’ team and a girls’ team.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Harlingen South senior Paloma Valdez said. “It’s a great stress reliever too, to just get on the mat and try it out.”
Xavier Montenegro, a Harlingen High School senior enjoys being able to work as a team.
“It’s fun and exciting,” he said. “I like working with all these people. Some of them are new, and some of them are well experienced, but we all work together like one unit.”
Harlingen South senior Joshua Manuel decided to join the new sport because he has a background in grappling.
“When I heard it was coming to Harlingen, I thought I could use what I learned in the past and come do wrestling here,” he said.
Harlingen High School senior Thaily Lopez thought it would be a good sport to try.
“I felt like I would fit so good into the sport because I am very tough,” she said.
De Leon and Salazar are working together to plan an event for their wrestling teams to compete against each other in November.
