Losing 5-0 in the second round of the CIF wrestling finals at Orange Glen High School, Feb. 10, Langdon Mullica (10) pushed his opponent forward with his arms locked around his midriff, flipping his opponent to his back. Pinning his opponent to the floor, Mullica secured an automatic win.

Going into the match, Mullica was seeded second and said he wanted to remain confident as a large part of wrestling is maintaining a positive mindset.

“I have to think that I’m gonna win,” Mullica said. “If I go into a match and I think I’m gonna lose then I feel like I’ve already lost the match.”

Relying on his training and trusting his skills, Mullica was ultimately able to pin his opponent.

“I was kind of surprised because the ref called a really quick pin,” Mullica said. “It took me a couple of seconds to realize that I [had] just won CIFs.”

Something Mullica has been working on over the past two years is staying focused on improving his skills, no matter what the outcome is.

“If I lose a match, then that just makes me wanna wrestle harder to get better,” he said. “I have that mindset that I’m gonna come back and I’m gonna beat you later.”

Mullica, who has been wrestling since he was 7 years old, was initially encouraged by his grandfather to pursue the sport, as he was also a wrestler himself.

Now as a sophomore, with a strenuous schedule of daily two-hour practices, Mullica said he felt physically prepared to go into the finals. 

A day of training for the team consists of 30 minutes of stretching to warm up their muscles, something Mullica says is critical to his performance. After practicing moves over the next hour, the practice ends with a combination of live wrestling with his teammates and conditioning.

For the upcoming masters competition, Mullica has been doing one-on-one training with his partner, Nate Bergren (12). In addition to his positive mindset, Mullica has credited a large part of his motivation to his partner and the rest of his team.  

At tournaments and competitions, the team supports one another no matter when they’re match is.

“When we’re at tournaments, we all go inside and record each other and cheer each other on while we’re wrestling,” Mullica said.

Of the nine wrestlers from Westview who competed in CIFs, only Mullica and Matthew Dobrowolski (12) will be moving forward to the Masters competition, happening today and tomorrow in El Centro. Mullica continues to prepare, hoping to place in the top four to go on and compete at the state competition in Bakersfield.

Mullica said he is excited for Masters as he will be competing in one of the most challenging tournaments of his wrestling career. 

“This is probably one of the hardest tournaments I’ve ever been to, so It’ll be fun to see where I compare,” Mullica said. ”Especially as a sophomore, so I know I can set goals for junior and senior year.”