Sunnyside Wrestling

Sunnyside’s Vega wins 138-pound title at USA Wrestling’s Fargo Junior National Championships

By Javier Morales

Posted on July 17, 2024

*Sunnyside senior Sergio Vega earned a 138-pound national championship at the Fargo (N.D.) junior freestyle competition (Vega photo)*

Sunnyside Class of 2025 three-time state champion Sergio Vega won all seven of his matches in the 138-pound competition, including the title match Wednesday night, of USA Wrestling’s Fargo (N.D.) Junior Freestyle National Championships.

Vega, the No. 3 seed in the bracket, upset No. 1 Drew Gorman of Georgia by a 10-2 decision. Vega scored 10 straight points to offset an early deficit.

“I had a slow start; I was down right away, but my coaches told me to stay focused,” Vega told USA Wrestling after the match. “Don’t waste your energy. Don’t do any of that stuff. So just staying focused, staying calm and collected. That’s about it.”

Vega reached the semifinals of the 132-pound competition at Fargo last summer.

He dropped weight after winning a state title at 144 pounds for Sunnyside last season.

With a 4.0 GPA, Vega has verbally committed to attend Cornell University of the Ivy League.

Vega, son of former Sunnyside state champion wrestler Danny Vega, will attempt to become a four-time state champion with the Blue Devils this school year after winning at 113 pounds as a freshman in 2021, at 126 pounds as a sophomore in 2022 and at 144 pounds as a junior last season.

“I think I’ve improved a lot,” Vega said. “Just learning to enjoy the sport of wrestling and getting better, not worried too much about wins and losses and just going out there and having fun.

“Wrestling is hard as it is. No pressure or anything.”

Vega said those who have helped him the most as a wrestler are his dad Danny Vega (who runs Tucson Cyclones Wrestling) and his brother Danny Jr. (a former standout wrestler at Ironwood Ridge), and his coach at Sunnyside, Anthony Leon, and the Blue Devils’ coaching staff.

By winning the national title, the younger Vega received a gold ticket to compete in the “Who’s No. 1?” competition on Sept. 29 at Johnstown, Pa. Who he will compete against is yet to be determined.

Besides winning that competition, Vega said he is looking forward the remainder of this year trying to make a world team and competing in the Super 32 Challenge and winning a belt there Oct. 12-13 at Greensboro, N.C.

Vega’s Sunnyside teammates Carlos Stanton Jr. (144 pounds) and Zayne Candelaria (285) reached the Round of 32 of the event in Fargo.

Enzo Morales (165) of Walden Grove and Jacob Acedo (285) of Mountain View advanced to the Round of 64.

Also participating were Sahuarita’s Gabriel Gallardo (150) and Dryden Pruitt (285), Sunnyside’s Nicholas Pina (165), Tucson High’s Roman Corral (215), Salpointe’s Nathaniel Higgins (144) and Pueblo’s Jozeph Valenzuela-Smith (157).