The Sunnyside wrestling dynasty is known for its 37 state championships, including a current streak of seven straight titles, but it also has established a name for itself in national competition.
Roman Bravo-Young, Jesse Ybarra and Anthony Echemendia are recent Sunnyside wrestlers who were victorious in the freestyle wrestling tournaments at the prestigious Fargo (N.D.) national championships during their Blue Devil careers.
Audrey Jimenez, who graduated from Sunnyside after last school year, captured similar titles winning the United World Wrestling U.S. cadet women’s freestyle national championship in 2021, U17 national championship in 2022, and U.S. Open women’s freestyle championship in 2023.
Sergio Vega, who earned the 138-pound Fargo Junior Freestyle national championship last week, is part of this impressive list of wrestlers from Sunnyside who won a national title — all of whom have wrestled under Sunnyside coach Anthony Leon.
“I kind of just felt it was another match, but after, it was like, ‘Wow, I just won nationals,'” Vega, a senior at Sunnyside, said of his emotions after he defeated No. 1 seed Drew Gorman of Buford, Ga., by a 10-2 decision in the championship match.
.@SSBDwrestling’s Sergio Vega, a three-time state champion, talks about the Fargo Junior Freestyle National Championship at 138 pounds he earned last week and giving back to the community as part of Sunnyside students offering kids 4th through 8th grade free wrestling instruction… pic.twitter.com/fXV5qu7lzi
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) July 22, 2024
Vega, seeded No. 3, won six matches in the bracket before that matchup with Gorman. He won his first four matches by technical fall before beating Hunter Hollingsworth of Newalla, Okla., by a 6-0 decision in the semifinals.
He outscored his seven opponents in the competition by a combined total of 76-11.
Vega approached the match with Gorman similar to the other matches — trying to stay loose and free of pressure while keeping his focus.
“I was just trying to have fun,” said Vega, who has already committed to attend Cornell of the Ivy League. “The coaches were telling me not to worry too much. After the warmup, we did the parade of champions. I just went and laid down in the back and then when it was my time to warm up, I went and warmed up.
“I just went and wrestled and had fun.”
In addition to being coached by Leon and Sunnyside’s staff, Vega is trained by his father Danny (a former Sunnyside state championship wrestler) and his brother Danny Jr. (who won three state titles at Ironwood Ridge before excelling at Iowa State and South Dakota State).
Danny Sr. is the vice president and coach of the Tucson Cyclones Wrestling and Fitness Club.
Sergio joins his brother as a Fargo freestyle national champion. Danny Jr. won two freestyle titles and a Greco-Roman championship at Fargo.
Sergio presently has three state championships, matching his brother. He will attempt to win his fourth state championship in February. Their dad won three state titles at Sunnyside from 1992-94.
“My dad means a lot to me, my brother, all of my family … they all help me focus on wrestling and getting all of my goals checked off of my list,” Sergio said. “They’re all an amazing part of my life.”
Sergio’s goals by next summer include winning the “Who’s No. 1?” competition Sept. 29 at Johnstown, Pa. He earned a golden ticket to the event by winning the national title at Fargo.
He also is shooting for the Super 32 Challenge championship Oct 12-13 at Greensboro, N.C., and placing first in the USA Wrestling U20 Men’s Freestyle World Team Trials. He placed third this year in that competition on June 1 at Geneva, Ohio.
Winning his fourth state championship at Sunnyside in February is also important to him.
In the meantime, Sergio will continue to do what he said is necessary to achieve the kind of success he has experienced on the mat: “I just work really, really hard all of the time. I never got the results I wanted every single time, but it took a lot of hard work and not getting discouraged if I didn’t win. The times that I lose, I just continue to come back in the room and work hard.”
Sergio is expressing that message of perseverance to young aspiring wrestlers in the fourth through eighth grade who are participating in the free wrestling and student-agency seminar that a group of Sunnyside wrestlers have organized taking place Monday and Tuesday this week at the school.
The event is operated through a fellowship from the Dragon Kim Foundation, a nonprofit organization that inspires youth to impact their communities while pursuing their passions. The Sunnyside wrestlers involved — Soleil Ponce, Josiah Ballesteros and Chris Lopez — are in contention for scholarhips based on how efficiently they coordinate the event that impacts the community’s youth.
More than 50 youths are taking part in the instruction in the classroom and in the wrestling room.
Jimenez, Mike Avelar and Jaime Rivera ran a similar Dragon Kim Foundation seminar two years ago involving economics classes along with wrestling instruction.
“I would say just to never give up and always work hard,” Sergio said when asked what he will tell the youngsters attending the seminar. “I mean, just have fun with it, obviously. Just don’t give up and keep working hard.”
The kids look up to him, similar to the role model Bravo-Young and Jimenez have become to young wrestlers in the community, especially on the southside where Sunnyside is located.
“My brother and Roman, I grew up watching them. It’s nice to be able to be that guy now,” Sergio said.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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