Bold Wildcats look far beyond Sunrise

Excuse Las Vegas High’s wrestling team for feeling confident. It’s merely a reflection of high expectations.

The Wildcats are on a decade-long streak of Sunrise Region championships, but insist they want something more out of this year’s squad. They haven’t won a state title since earning back-to-back championships in 2001 and 2002, when current coach Greg Gifford won the individual title at 189 pounds.

“I was on the team that started everything, so I can come in expecting (to win),” said Gifford, in his first year as coach. “It’s not a whole lot of pressure — I expect to win regionals and I expect to win state.

“And I think we’ve got all the kids believing we should win regionals, we should win state, that we should want to prove everybody we are that good. We plan on going into this tournament and winning in a dominant fashion, and do the same thing at state as well.”

The Wildcats will try to stretch their regional streak to 11 when they host the Sunrise tournament starting at 3:30 p.m. Friday, but they view the regional as merely a step toward returning the program to state dominance.

“We’re excited to go into this tournament, host it, and we expect to win,” Gifford said. “I expect to have five or six guys win it, and I’d like to qualify every one of my guys for state. I have to believe in that so these kids believe it as well. I buy in; I’m hoping they buy in, too.”

Bonanza will host the Sunset Region tournament, also at 3:30 p.m. Friday. Southwest League champion Spring Valley and Northwest champion Shadow Ridge are expected to challenge 2009 state champion Cimarron-Memorial in the Sunset.

Both tournaments conclude Saturday, with the finals scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m.

Las Vegas junior Napoleon Aniciete knows what it’s like to be a champion. The 140-pounder won a Class 4A state title at 103 pounds as a freshman at Bishop Gorman, defeating current teammate De’Armon Hall in the finals.

After transferring to Las Vegas and sitting out as a sophomore per transfer rules, Aniciete says he wants to “dominate” this year’s tournament.

“Because I couldn’t wrestle last year, I lifted a lot of weights. And I got to wrestle in the offseason, for freestyle and Greco (Roman wrestling),” said Aniciete, who has 26 pins and a 39-4 season record. “This year our coaches have put us through tough workouts. I know they have prepared us more than enough for this tournament. I’d say they’re definitely the best coaches in the state.”

Napoleon isn’t the only Aniciete striving for a place atop the podium. He’s helping freshman brother Alex Aniciete reach that goal at 130 pounds.

“I feel confident because I’ve been practicing all season with my brother, and he whoops on me a lot,” said Alex Aniciete, who is 36-9. “When we go live, he whoops me — but it gets me better than I would (alone) in practice.

“In the wrestling room, we go at it. It’s insane. So when we come back home, we just talk about it, laugh. To me, this is like business, the wrestling room. We’re really close. We tell each other everything.”

The Wildcats’ roster is deep, including returning state placers De’Armon Hall (112), Trey McElhaney (215) and Austin Woo (285). The expected “domination” comes from individual wrestlers and as a team.

“(Napoleon) expects to win every match in a dominant fashion,’’ Gifford said. ''And that’s half the battle, the mental game, to go out there and be able to perform. You’ve got to go out and want to win in a dominant fashion. ... Nappy does that; he comes off the mat mad if he only wins by six points.”