Ten months ago wrestler Hunter Ladnier made a commitment to himself, to his coach, and to his team: he was going to take first place at the California USA Dave Schultz KIDS Freestyle State Championship.
Last month in Fresno he did just that, claiming the championship title for the 105-pound weight class in the schoolboy division.
“He didn’t just pull it off,” said Ladnier’s coach, Rick Gurrola. “He destroyed.”
Rocketing through his preliminary matches, Ladnier met a close finish but pulled through in his seventh and final match against David San Miguel of Palomino Academy, with a decision of 4-3 in the first round and 6-5 in the second and final round.
Ladnier, 13, started wrestling with the Future Wrestling Club when he was 9 years old and already a gifted athlete. Gurrola likes to joke that while Ladnier was a jack of all trades, he was a master of none. Active in basketball, baseball, and Cub Scouting since he was in kindergarten, an actor in his church’s play productions, and more recently a member of Junior Lifeguards, Ladnier had his extracurricular mantel near full when he decided to follow in his brother’s footsteps and take up wrestling.
He took to the sport with greater zeal than in all his previous endeavors.
“I just liked it (wrestling) a lot more than all the other sports,” Ladnier said. “It’s more engaging; less downtime waiting for something to happen.”
He said the singular nature of wrestling is also what drew him in; not having to depend on teammates for a result.
Still, it was not until the start of his seventh-grade year at Hermosa Valley Middle School last September that Ladnier chose to say “goodbye” to basketball and baseball and deliver his vows to wrestling
“Hunter had to make a decision,” said his dad Dennis. “He’s a pretty good all-around athlete, but did he want to be good or take a chance and be really good? When he made the decision and it was his choice to concentrate on wrestling, we were there for him.”
Ladnier possesses a reserved intensity. The seriousness, which runs from the pupils of his eyes to the flare of his nostrils and the creases of his mouth, is immediately betrayed by eager excitement when asked to demonstrate some of the more grueling aspects of his training routine. The power he displays in a single sprawl is demonstrative of his overall power as a wrestler.
During wrestling season – which stretches from the beginning of the school year into summer – Ladnier practices twice daily, with both Future and the Mira Costa High School teams. His comfort level in wrestling older opponents is apparent: he recently went 4-0 in the 120-pound weight class against varsity seniors at North High School.
Earlier this year he began training in Jiu Jitsu with John Paul LeBosnoyani, the seventh-grade Hermosan who is an international gold medalist. The two swap trade secrets twice weekly, with Ladnier training LeBosnoyani in wrestling in turn for his instruction in the martial arts. After only seven months in the sport, Ladnier has already won the Gracie Kids World Championship.
He also continues to be involved in Junior Lifeguards and Boy Scouting, and recently took up the piano.
His mother, Cyndi, beams when she says that in spite of all this Hunter has managed to carry straight A’s this past school year.
To his coach, Ladnier’s greatest accomplishment has been the change in character he has attained through wrestling.
“When Hunter first started he was one of those gifted kids,” Gurolla said. “Hunter didn’t earn what he got, he gained it from athleticism. He was selfish. He would pick on kids lesser than him …. I never had a kid that fought more than him.”
But in time, Ladnier became the leader and mentor his coach needed him to be, the guy Gurolla would send all the team members to for training.
“Most valuable (team member) isn’t who accomplishes the most,” Gurolla said. “Most valuable is whose valuable to the club. Hunter is most valuable because he helps the team out. He’s most valuable, because he deserves it.”
