Wrestling

The unfinished business of an NCAA championship at 174 pounds begins Saturday for Victor Carazo at the annual Grand Canyon Duals, which will bring five of the best teams in Division II to GCU Arena. The fifth-ranked Antelopes have their best team yet under Head Coach R.C. LaHaye.

Anthony Robles, who was born with one leg and went on to become an NCAA champion this year for Arizona State University, visited campus this week to offer encouraging words about overcoming obstacles and sharpening focus in life.

Athletes and coaches from GCU’s five winter sports teams were recognized Thursday evening at an event at the home of Chief Executive Officer Brian Mueller. Members of the Antelope cheer and dance teams also were honored at the reception, which wrapped up a highly successful season for GCU. Television sports personality Brad Cesmat served as master of ceremonies, briefly interviewing each coach and a few of the athletes.

Todd Wilcox lives to wrestle. That should come as no surprise, considering his recent victory at the NCAA Division II Championships in the 133-pound weight class. “I went into the season with an unexplainable hunger,” says Wilcox, a senior.

Next weekend has been circled in red for weeks and months on the calendars of GCU athletes in wrestling, swimming, and track and field. National qualifiers will head off to the NCAA Division II championships, in far-off places such as Kearney, Neb., San Antonio and Albuquerque. It doesn’t get any bigger than this, and in the final preparations there is no room for doubt, only determination.

GCU wrestler Todd Wilcox has a record of 10-2 this season, and he says the 2 matters more to him than the 10. “You definitely learn more from your losses,” he says, “and it’s better to lose now than in the postseason. I want the tough competition.”

If you’re thinking R.C. LaHaye, GCU’s feisty wrestling coach, is happy just to be swapping holds with ASU, forget about it. When the Antelopes and Sun Devils square off for the fourth time in Saturday’s dual meet in Antelope Gym, know this: He’s in it to win it.

Olympic gold-medal wrestler Henry Cejudo has his sights set on another gold — and another goal. Now he’s enrolled at GCU, taking three classes on campus and one online, while starting to train for the 2012 Olympics in London.