If facing the top high school wrestlers in the nation wasn't enough, Forest Grove's Archy De La Rosa was confronted with another level of adversity at the U.S. Marine Corps 16U Nationals in Fargo, N.D., July 12-20.
De La Rosa, the 6A runner-up at 113 pounds as a freshman last season, had to battle through a bout of food poisoning.
“I was throwing up all day and night,” he said. “I felt pretty weak. Every time I moved, I felt winded. I just had to wrestle like I was healthy and push through that.”
De La Rosa dug deep and came through with a strong performance at 113 pounds for Team Oregon. He reached the round of 16 of the freestyle tournament before making the semifinals of the Greco-Roman bracket, where he took sixth place.
“All things considered, he did great,” said his father, Forest Grove assistant coach Jorge De La Rosa. “I wish he would've been 100 percent healthy to truly show how much work he's put in all year. Overall, we're very excited for the future.”
De La Rosa was one of five Oregon boys to place at Fargo. In 16U Greco-Roman, Roseburg's Drew Dawson (100) and Daniel Patrick (157) each placed fifth. In Junior Greco-Roman, Roseburg's Gage Singleton took third at 120 and Clackamas' Jeremiah Wachsmuth placed eighth at 120.
Archy De La Rosa got food poisoning on the second day of the freestyle tournament. Still, he managed to win three matches before falling to Eli Herring of Pennsylvania 16-5 in the round of 16.
He had two days to recover for the Greco-Roman tournament. He won five matches to advance to the semifinals, where he lost 6-1 to the No. 1 seed, Zaiyahn Ornelas of Nebraska.
Archy said the loss to Ornelas was a learning experience.
“I definitely need to work on my hand-fighting,” he said. “I felt his hand-fighting was a lot different than most kids. It was more grabby. But overall I felt like I put up a pretty good fight against him.”
What if Archy had been full strength all week?
“I think I would have won the whole thing,” he said.
Jorge said that Archy was at about 80 percent strength in the Greco-Roman tournament.
“He gave it everything he had,” Jorge said. “He had very little appetite. He used the fuel he had in the tank to make it through the final stretch. Greco's not his strength, but he made it to the semis. I think he was a little too cautious, wrestling the No. 1 seed, being in the semis, facing an older kid. I don't think he was intimidated, he was just a little too cautious.”
Jorge said he was encouraged in that Archy's losses were “winnable” matches.
“We have to make some adjustments, work a little bit harder,” Jorge said. “It's the biggest stage you can be on as a high schooler. I think it really helped that he went last year as an incoming freshman. This year he definitely had a mission of, 'Hey, I want to make it to the finals.' Almost got there.”
Archy burst onto the high school scene as a freshman, earning the No. 1 seed to the 6A tournament. He finished 38-1 after an 8-2 loss in the final to Roseburg's Singleton, a three-time state champion and Oregon State commit.
Archy's freshman season included wins over four reigning 106 state champions, beating Tillamook's Bryce Haltiner and Roseburg's Carter Dawson twice each and defeating Clackamas' Max Blanco and Thurston's Kanoe Kelly. He also claimed a title in the prestigious Rollie Lane Invitational.
Archy said he took the loss to Singleton hard.
“I feel like in that match I was a little hesitant to be there,” he said. “I think I should have performed better in that match. … It gave me motivation to keep working even harder to prepare for what's coming next. It gave me a little inside look of what higher levels of wrestling are and what I need to do to achieve it.”
Archy has bounced back in a big way. In April, he won the 110 title at Reno Worlds.and won freestyle and Greco-Roman titles in the Oregon Wrestling Association championships. The Reno title came after he placed second in the tournament last year.
“That meant a lot,” he said. “This year I was pretty determined to win it. I worked hard with one goal in mind, to win that.”
