SPORTS
Mitch Lehman

Warm up, wrestle, get some experience, go home, hope it all pays off in twelve months.
That was pretty much the game plan for San Marino High school sophomore wrestler Ben Harwich as he prepared for the CIF Northern Division finals at Pacifica High School Oxnard after sweeping through the Rio Hondo League finals basically untouched on February 9.
After all, how big a ripple can a sophomore make at such an elite level in such a beast of a weight class?
The answer, as of this past Sunday afternoon, is “pretty big.”
To the shock of all – yes, even Big Ben himself – Harwich took down the numbers one and four seeds in the 189 lb. weight class on his way to a third-place finish and berth in Saturday’s elite CIF Masters.
The question begged: ben are you surprised at your success?
“Very,” he said in a voice barely breaking a whisper. “I lost my first match and I was up against the first seed and I thought, ‘well, I’m going home tonight.’ But I didn’t make any mistakes and I caught him in one and I got the pin. After that, I knew I might be able to win a couple more and then go home.”
Such are the plans of mice and men and – big, tough grapplers.
Harwich won again, and again, and again and found himself standing across the mat circle from Joshua Powers, the senior from Ontario High School who had pinned him just a few hours earlier in his CIF debut when Harwich, admittedly, took a chance hoping for the big finish.
This time, it would be different, with a Master’s bid and third-place CIF match hanging in the balance.
“The score was 1-0 and I was behind going into the third period,” Harwich recalled. “He kept me down almost the whole third period and then he got called for stalling and I got a point. It was 1-1 with only about 10 seconds left and I tried a different escape and it worked so I won 2-1.”
Harwich then pounded senior Josh Manuel of Oxnard High School by a score of 10-6 to finally earn third place in the CIF Northern Division, a bracket berth in this weekends CIF Masters – and that trip home, as well.
Plus, at least one very valuable lesson.
“I learned I can hang in there with anybody,” Harwich said. “If I can get to the third period with anyone, I have a chance to win.”
Big Ben was hardly challenged in the Rio Hondo League finals held in the friendly confines of San Marino High School’s Dingus Memorial Fieldhouse.
After cruising through the dual match season undefeated, he received his toughest competition form La Cañada junior James Christensen.
Harwich beat him in the finals by a tally of 8-2 to win his first league crown.
Though underclassmen frequently shine in other athletic pursuits, wrestling is a different animal, where experience and physical maturity typically rule the day – especially in the upper weight classes where the 189-lb. Harwich competes.
“There were hardly any other sophomores at CIF,” Harwich said. “One guy took sixth place in another weight class, but that’s it.”
What are his hopes for Masters?
“If I win three matches I can make it,” he said.
Though his father, Matt, wrestled at San Marino High School several decades ago, Ben obviously inherited the bulk of his athletic talent from his mother, Fiona, a club champion golfer at San Gabriel C.C.
He also starred at fullback and middle linebacker for the junior varsity Titans and puts the shot for the track team.
But for now, the iron ball will have to wait.

After last week’s wild card, penalty kick thriller, the Lady Titan varsity soccer team dropped a hard-fought 2-1 decision this past Saturday afternoon at Santa Ynez.
Senior Lindsay Wofford capped an outstanding career with her 75th career goal when she hammered home a set piece in 70th minute, but the Lady Titans couldn’t bag the equalizer. Though official records for the Lady Titan soccer program do not exist, it is believed that Wofford ended her high school career as the second leading scorer in school history. Lindsay will continue her career at Wake Forest this fall.
Santa Ynez dominated the first half of play, unleashing five quality shots – one of which found the back of the onion bag to give the Lady Pirates a 1-0 lead in the 25th minute.
The Lady Titans played better in the second stanza, but Santa Ynez scored on a breakaway in the 65th minute to go up 2-0.
Wofford’s conversion made it oh-so-close, but Santa Ynez jammed the middle and kept San Marino at bay. Senior Rien Addis and junior Kelley McCloskey were also cited for outstanding play.