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LATINO WRESTLING EXPERIENCE NATIONAL WRESTLING HALL OF FAME & MUSEUM | 55 California's Bakersfield High School has witnessed a number of excellent wrestlers, but not one of them matched Darrell Vasquez's mat record. Darrell won the very competitive California State High School Championship his freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years. As such, he was the very first California wrestler to achieve this spectacular feat. Needless to say, expectations were very high when Darrell chose to wrestle for California Polytechnic State University. Redshirting his first year on campus, Darrell excelled in 2004 when he finished the year with 30-7 record, a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Championships at 133 pounds, and All-America honors. But the following year, he was plagued by what doctors diagnosed as the Epstein-Barr virus, a disease that causes chronic fatigue and exhaustion. Withdrawing from school, he sat out the 2005 season. Said Darrell, "I was tired and I couldn't get out of bed. When I pushed my body to the limit, it would shut down. My body wouldn't go where I wanted it to go." In spite of challenges that many athletes would find impossible to overcome and still burdened by symptoms of the disease, Vasquez returned to the mat in 2006 to win 24 matches against only 5 defeats and to qualify for the NCAA tournament. His last year as a Mustang, he excelled on the mat sporting a 27-3 record, a fifth-place NCAA finish and his second All-American designation. Although Darrell Vasquez admits, "It's been a long road…," few wrestlers have accomplished so much during their wrestler careers in spite of persistent adversity. For those lucky enough to have seen Darrell Vasquez on the mat, first at Bakersfield High School, then at Cal Poly, his wrestling skills and dogged determination will not be soon forgotten. DARRELL VASQUEZ Wrestled 2004, 2007 California Polytechnic State University 133lbs