VCHS wrestlers survive maiden voyage

Lauren Pfahlert, left, and Kiaya Heise have relied on each other to make it through the season.

Eric Wilson never understood why Vacaville Christian High School did not have a wrestling team. When school administrators decided last year to launch one, they knew exactly who to ask to coach.

Wilson was already quite familiar with Vacaville Christian Schools. His children, 12-year-old Tia and 6-year-old Evan, attend VCS and his wife Monica is the director of the school’s executive office.

Now all Wilson had to do was find students interested in wrestling. He put out the word and was surprised when a few girls stepped forward. Being the coach suddenly became more challenging.

Wilson wrestled in high school and junior college, but his only coaching experience was in youth football. He knew what to expect with the boys, but the idea of coaching girls was “awkward.”

Eric Wilson asked his wife Monica to be an assistant coach with the wrestling team.

His solution was to recruit his wife Monica to be his assistant coach. As Wilson developed his coaching style, Monica learned the difference between a single-leg takedown and a technical fall.

“She’s understanding a lot more,” Wilson said. “She understands where I’m coming from when I say something. It’s good having her there.”

At least Monica was not alone. Juniors Lauren Pfahlert and Kiaya Heise learned right along with her. They are the only girls still to survive this season, and Monica could not be prouder of them.

“I’m their biggest fan,” Monica said.

Pfahlert and Heise will compete Friday and Saturday at the Sac-Joaquin Section Girls Invitational at McNair High in Stockton. The top six finishers in each weight class will receive medals.

Heise and Pfahlert have each earned a medal this season and are proud of their “bling.” The two friends share in their success because they talked each other into trying wrestling in the first place.

“I’m an aggressive person, and my dad wrestled in high school,” Pfahlert said. “When I told him I was going to wrestle, he was nervous. But once he saw me winning matches, he got pretty excited.”

 Heise’s “The One with the Most Bruises Loses” shirt proves she has taken a liking to wrestling.

“I play keeper in soccer,” she said. “I used to getting down and dirty.”