Sacramento City College’s wrestling team captain Ben Quilpa was recently named Most Outstanding Wrestler at a big statewide tournament with a season record of 21-3.
With the conclusion of the Santa Ana Tournament, Quilpa shared his experience ranking second place in the state at 133 pounds.
“It was a good experience. I really liked the setup of the tournament. Santa Ana was really fun just being out there in L.A. chilling with the team,” said Quilpa, who majors in sociology.
Quilpa placed seventh in the Leemore Open prior to the Santa Ana Tournament. He said he felt bitter about the loss, but he is proud of himself after winning the Santa Ana Tournament.
“[I] really had a bitter taste in my mouth, so it felt good to win that tournament and kind of shake off the rust,” Quilpa said.
Some struggles Quilpa faced when practicing for the Santa Ana Tournament were balancing schoolwork and practice as well as maintaining weight for the tournament.
City College’s wrestling coach Marques Gales said he was not surprised Quilpa won. Gales praised Quilpa, who he said was coming off of an injury after the Leemore Open tournament, and persisted through his training for Santa Ana.
“After a week, he had some time to heal and recover. We were really confident he was going to wrestle to his best ability at the Santa Ana invitation, so there was no surprise that he won it.” Gales said. “He won in nominate fashion, so he was also named the Most Valuable Wrestler at the tournament.”
Quilpa started wrestling in eighth grade at Olympus Junior High School in Roseville. Coming to City College wrestling has been intense, according to Quilpa. He said he finds it a great experience to push his limits and do things he did not think he could do, such as sprinting for a whole minute.
“After intense practice or intense training, it’s a really good feeling of satisfaction and kind of relief that it’s over and I get to go to deep waters and learn a lot about myself that I usually don’t do in my day to day life,” Quilpa said.
Quilpa’s time at City College led him to become the captain of the men’s wrestling team. As a sophomore, some other wrestling team members are younger, and he says they look up to him. He said he hopes to leave a positive impact on his team.
“I just want to be a good example of what Sacramento City wrestling can do for you and just try to represent my team as a whole,” Quilpa said.
Gales says that Quilpa’s role as captain has positively affected the wrestling team. Describing Quilpa as a leader by example.
“He tends to stay after practice to get extra work in. That motivates other people too; they see him putting in extra time, whether it’s coming in earlier or staying late that tends to have a contagious effect,” Gales said.
Quilpa plans to earn his associate degree by the end of this year. He wants to transfer to a state college and get into NCAA Division II to continue wrestling.
“It’s national — you get to go to a lot of national tournaments and meet a lot of new people,” Quilpa said.
