Valencia High School sophomore Slater Hicks had a goal of winning the state wrestling tournament.
And while he didn’t end up at the top of the podium at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield at the beginning of March, Hicks did finish his second trip to the state tournament with a sixth-place finish in the 126-pound bracket. He’s the first Valencia wrestler to place at the state tournament since Alex Munoz earned his second state medal in 2023.
“It was honestly a great experience,” Hicks said. “But, you know, sometimes you don’t get what you wanted, but it’s all learning. And I went there and competed my hardest. So, that’s all that mattered to me. I didn’t really care that I lost. I just wanted to, you know, keep getting better, keep learning, and next year, for sure, I got it.”
Hicks said he was most proud of beating St. John Bosco’s Nathan Carillo in the quarterfinals via a 9-4 decision after Carillo beat Hicks in the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet championship bout just a week prior to the state tournament.
Formerly at St. John Bosco before transferring to Valencia prior to the 2023-24 season, Hicks got revenge against an opponent he’s faced off against multiple times over the past couple of years.
“Honestly, I was just thinking the week before,” Hicks said. “I kind of had a bad mindset and didn’t go into the match with the dominant mindset. And I just had to change that, and that’s what I did at state.”
The fun stopped there for Hicks, though, as he lost a 7-1 decision in the semifinals before losing in both the consolation semifinals and the fifth-place match, both by decision. All three of those bouts were contested on the same day.
Valencia head coach Brian Peterson said Hicks, CalGrappler’s fifth-ranked wrestler at 126 pounds heading into the state tournament, had the upper hand early in the semifinal match against Buchanan’s Paris Ruiz, CalGrappler’s sixth-ranked wrestler. But after burning energy to beat Carillo the day before, Peterson said Hicks simply ran out of gas, mentally and physically.
“We made technical errors, and that’s what led to that guy getting the lead,” Peterson said. “It is what it is. Hats off to him. He made some good moves, and we weren’t ready for his moves … It’s hard to go back-to-back matches like that. But he’s going to be better because of it.”
Hicks was one of two Valencia wrestlers to compete at the state tournament. Junior Alejandro Navarro lost his first match before bouncing back with a win in the consolation bracket. His tournament ended with a loss via decision in the second consolation round of 16.
“I definitely thought we didn’t wrestle that first match very well, but the second match, he bounced back, won the match,” Peterson said. “And then it was kind of just a bad position on the bracket it seemed with this guy that he’s like sixth ranked in the state.”
Now that the offseason has officially arrived, Hicks said he would likely just take a few days off before getting back to business.
The goal, he said, is to compete as much as possible after not doing so after his freshman season, and to qualify at the U.S. Under-20 World Team Trials.
“I didn’t compete much after (last) season,” Hicks said. “So, I’m gonna try to compete, like at least every other weekend, but just get a lot of tournaments and just keep getting better.”
