A wrestling duo did themselves and the school proud last weekend when they made it to the state meet and walked away with a historic finish.

Graham Grant, a senior who wrestles at 220 pounds, finished fourth in the state and first in CCS in his weight class, the most success any SHS wrestler has had for years. Junior Christian Murabito did not place at state, but took second at CCS a week earlier in the 170-pound class.

The state tournament was held in Bakersfield on March 8, and CCS was held on Feb. 28.

At the double-elimination state tournament, Grant won his first match, lost the second, and then proceeded to win five rounds in a row to get fourth place. His only losses were to wrestlers from Orland and Birmingham High. These two took the third and eighth places respectively. Murabito won his first round, but then lost his next two, finishing 1-2.

“It’s good for the team that Grant got fourth, especially since it was above his projected ranking,” junior Christian Murabito said. “It really shows how far our team has gotten.”

With both Grant’s and Murabito’s contributions, Saratoga placed 53 among all California schools in wrestling.

At CCS, Grant went undefeated and ultimately pulled off a close 3-2 championship win against Leland’s Jack Loumena. Murabito was undefeated in his class, until he lost in the finals to Gilroy’s Matt Penyascek.

This year’s success is similar to last year, when Grant also took first place in CCS and Murabito took fourth in the 160-pound class. Grant attended states last year, along with alumni Henry Wei (class of 2013), but didn’t have nearly the same success this year as he did last year. Grant had a record of 1-2 while Wei had a record of 2-2.

Grant said this year’s success was maybe even greater than last year’s because they not only sent two wrestlers to states again, but they had more wrestlers qualify for CCS. Along with Grant and Murabito, the team sent senior Isaac Tung and juniors Alex Hansen and Vince Rositano to CCS.

“We had more wrestlers in CCS this year, and two wrestlers in the finals,” Grant said.

Many factors contributed to the team’s success, including coaching and wrestlers’ efforts.

“We did so well this year mostly because of our coaching staff,” Murabito said. “They pushed us much more than last year.”

Although this season was a success, the team wasn’t without challenges this year.

“We probably could have done even better with more wrestlers,” Murabito said. “This year, we had a very small number of people on the team.”

Primarily, the team faced the loss of key wrestlers who graduated last year. However, they believe that practice scheduling may have been an issue for prospective wrestlers.

“Our practice time was much later this year than it was last year, and that probably discouraged many students from joining the team,” Murabito said.

The team hopes to fix the problems that led to a small team next year. Even without Grant, the wrestlers believe that they can succeed.

“We have some rebuilding to do, and we will probably start by trying to get more people on the team,” Murabito said.