By Mike Finn, W.I.N. Editor

Word on the street, according to Al Fontes, editor of The California Wrestler Newsletter, is that the California Interscholastic Federation is considering breaking up the CIF state wrestling tournament.

            “It looks like the CIF wants to break up the tournament into two divisions,” said Fontes, who has coached and covered wrestling within the state of California for the past 20 years. “But I don’t think a lot of coaches want that to happen.”

            Breaking state tournaments in multiple division — usually grouping schools by enrollment size — is common among most states in this country. One of the few that doesn’t is actually one of the largest states: California, which has nearly 24,000 kids wrestling in 728 programs around the state.

            But when it comes to winning a state championship, those programs only have one option as the CIF tournament since 1973 has consisted of one division.

            And oddly, most California coaches like it that way.

            “If you took a consensus of the coaches who were at the Monterey Coaches Clinic, a lot of them like the one division,” said Fontes.

            One of those coaches is Jerry Vallotton, who heads up the wrestling program at Foothill High School, located in the northern California community of Palo Cedro.

            “They are in the talking stages,” admitted Vallotton. “I don’t know if it will take years.”

            He hopes so and is happy that one of is better wrestlers, — his son, Caleb, ranked 14th nationally by W.I.N. at 125 pounds —  won’t have to deal with such a change.

            “I’m glad my son is a senior so he doesn’t have to mess with it,” Vallotton said. “I feel for my guys on the team, but if my son is going to make a run at the title, I’d love for it to be pure and just one division.”

            It’s that tradition that also separates California high school wrestlers’ mentalities from other preps in this country.

            “You just say, ‘California champ or California placer’ and there is no conversation after that,” said Vallotton, who has been coaching for over 20 years and grew up with this tradition when he wrestled in high school near the San Francisco Bay area. “Everyone understands what you are talking about.”

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