There’s a new junior college athletics program underway this fall in Santa Clara. The Mission College Saints have started the school’s first wrestling program. It’s a noteworthy addition to an athletics department that has taken some hits in recent years.
Three years ago, Santa Clara’s Mission College dropped its baseball program. And prior to this year’s arrival of men’s wrestling, Mission College’s men’s sports offerings had fallen to just one sport, tennis. Not only has the new program doubled the men’s side athletics offerings, but the school has hired the immensely successful Dustin Kirk to lead the program.
“I appreciate the opportunity to get the word out about our program,” beamed Kirk in an exclusive interview with The Voice. “I know this is a very rich area in terms of lots of great coaches and great athletes, so my goal the next five to ten years is to really dive into those relationships and try to get those kids to stay local for Mission College and Santa Clara.”
Kirk’s resume is as decorated as any you will find in the wrestling world. A four-time All-American in his own right, Kirk spent five years as the men’s assistant coach at Cerritos College where he was tasked with building the women’s program. Kirk developed the Cerritos women’s program to the point of winning four consecutive 3C2A Women’s Wrestling State Championships. In his final year at Cerritos, Kirk became head coach for both the men’s and women’s teams. The men finished with their highest placement in eight seasons under Kirk’s direction.
Despite all the accolades, Kirk deflects the attention to the importance of his athletes and the value of competition at the junior college level. It’s a noteworthy moment in a time when collegiate sports programs have frequently been cut due to budget cuts at the state level. However, as Kirk points out, there are huge benefits to the junior college athletics programs that offer an opportunity to continue competing, but at the fraction of the cost of four-year universities.
“There has been a lot of negativity in the community because of programs being dropped in the past, so a refresh with Mission is what the talk of the town is right now,” noted Kirk. “This is a great opportunity to promote that with Mission, district residents qualify for free tuition. There is a stigma around community colleges where people are like, ‘Oh it’s a community college; it’s less than.’ But if you look at Menlo, it’s $60,000 dollars to go there. San Francisco State is similar. Once people understand the benefits of the California community colleges, maybe they’ll understand how this can be a great opportunity.”
Kirk’s men’s wrestlers took advantage of their opportunity this past weekend. The men’s team competed at the 3C2A NorCal Regional Duals. As a team, Mission finished 2-2, with wins over San Joaquin Delta College 35-23, and Shasta Community College 33-23. The Saints fell to Lassen College 29-24 and College of the Redwoods 38-18.
For the Saints competing in the 125-division were Davon Walker and Andres Juarez. At 133 was Dominic Ortega and Jason Lee, at 141 Andy Ho, at 149 Suleyman Yanik, at 157 Nicholas Quiroz and Anthony Ortiz, at 165 Easton Apolinar, at 174 Gael Rivera Reynoso, 184 Vinh Dang, 197 Mark Gonzalez, and at 285, Antonio Cueva and Omar Gutierrez.
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