A look back on Justin Mejia’s big weekend

Justin Mejia is pretty excited these days. If you need proof take one look at the photo (John Sachs – Tech Fall) where you can see the sophomore Hawkeye commit flexing as he celebrates winning the Doc Buchanan Invitational tournament this weekend in California.

Mejia is having a fantastic season after verbally committing to wrestle for the University of Iowa a few months ago. Since Mejia has made his college announcement he has won the World Challenge tournament, Clovis West Shoot out, and the Zinkin Classic . But none of them can stack up to the performance Mejia put in this weekend.

We’ll start with his first two matches, as the Clovis high wrestler pinned back-to-back opponents. One of the wrestlers pinned by Mejia is a familiar name Joe Delgado, brother of two-time NCAA champion Jesse Delgado of Illinois. I asked Justin if he knew right then if he was going to have a great tournament, “I was confident going into the quarters and semifinals, but I didn’t wrestle like I should have. I was able to turn it around in the finals.” said Mejia.

Moving on to his quarterfinals match, it was against the #3 ranked California high school wrestler Zander Silva, which Mejia won that bout 6-3. In the semifinals he ran into Flowrestling’s #6 ranked Ian Timmins of Nevada. Mejia came out on top in another tight match 4-2.

“I wasn’t focused enough and didn’t get to my attacks like I should have. I started off slow in the quarterfinals, and then toward the end of the match I got my mind right. Once I got to the finals I just wrestled my match. I feel comfortable in all positions, but I am really tough on top.”

So after going through the #3 ranked kid in all of California, and then one of the top ten best wrestlers in the country, Mejia was rewarded with wrestling the state’s #2 ranked wrestler, David Campbell.

“I think it’s great to see [this level of competition] before the big show. This gives me a feel of what I’m up against at state tournament.”

Mejia picked up an early first period lead with a takedown and near fall points, and he never looked back en route to his title. “It felt good coming out on top for the second year in a row, especially in front of my home crowd.” Mejia finished the match with an 8-2 decision.

Now with the Doc Buchanan title behind him, Mejia is already looking to his next challenge, “I am going to keep working hard throughout the season. We travel to Illinois this weekend and I hope to knock off another nationally ranked wrestler. And hopefully our team to wins the dual tournament.”

Clovis wrestling will travel to Illinois to face one of the best teams in the nation in Oak Park River Forest. His matchup with the nationally ranked wrestler is also a Hawkeye commit, Jason Renteria.

Flowrestling had an additional interview with Mejia after his win.