Moore winning still to come, says TOHS wrestler
Jason Moore sets his sights on state tourney
By Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers TOUGH GUY- Jason Moore works on a takedown during practice.

This season the Thousand Oaks High wrestling team ranks eighth in the CIFSouthern Section Division II coaches' poll. One reason for the Lancers' success is senior Jason Moore.

Moore has been dominating for TOHS this year with a record of 233 while wrestling in the 125pound weight division. Moore qualified for the Masters tournament as a junior, when he went 335 with 20 pins, and he's hoping he can go even further in 2007 by competing in the state meet.

"Last year my goal was to make it to Masters, and I did," Moore said. "This year at the beginning of the season I made a goal to go even farther and make it to state. The top eight people from Masters qualify for that meet, and this year I think I can do it."

Thousand Oaks head coach Kerry Lyne believes Moore has as good a chance as anybody at making it to state.

"He has a very good shot," Lyne said. "One thing he has going for him is that he can beat you in a lot of different ways. When he started wrestling for us, he won just on brute strength. Now he is not only tough and strong, but he is also skilled and very smart."

Moore first started wrestling in high school when a friend encouraged him to try the sport. Moore was already playing football for the Lancers, but felt he was too small for the sport and stopped playing after two years. In the meantime, Moore has found his niche on the wrestling mat.

"He is a tough guy," Lyne said. "I coached him during his JV season for football and he was a little undersized, but one thing that is not undersized is his heart. He loves to wrestle and always gives his best."

After struggling his freshman year, Moore said he started to gain confidence after he started to wrestle freestyle in the offseason.

"It was during my sophomore year when we were at the Highland Tournament that things first started clicking," Moore said. "Maybe I got a little lucky, maybe not, but that's when I started to gain confidence when I got three pins. I had nine wins and only one loss."

Later that year Moore made the Marmonte League finals where he met his goal, which was to make the second day.

"That was a good tournament for me and one that still sticks out in my mind," Moore said. "I placed fourth, but one match I really remember was one in which I was trailing by 13 points in the third period with about 50 seconds remaining and I came back to win by getting the pin."

Moore said much of his success comes from his teammates, who always push him to do his best, and from Lyne, who Moore said is a great coach.

"What I like about Coach Lyne is that he's a real student of the sport," Moore said. "He likes to watch other wrestlers and coaches as we go along and see how it can possibly help us.

"The other thing I like about him is that he applies wrestling to things in life and adds a little comic relief to the competition. For instance, he was teaching us 'duck unders' and was telling us we need to keep our hips tight while doing it as if we wanted to pee down our own socks. Obviously, I can't think of any situation where that would ever come up, but it gets us laughing."

Moore said that while he loves wrestling, the job of keeping his weight down is very demanding throughout the year.

"I will add six or seven pounds during the week by eating fish, salads and lots of bread," Moore said. "But then when I wrestle during the week, it will just come off. It can get grueling after a while, but it's not that bad."

Another thing that is pretty demanding is Moore himself, who was made a captain this year by his teammates. According to Lyne, Moore is not afraid to speak his mind on the wrestling mat.

"Out of all our captains, I think he is the most vocal," Lyne said. "He's a very consistent leader. It's almost like he's another assistant coach out there sometimes."

Moore said he hasn't decided on a college yet, but he has contacted Cal State Fullerton in hopes of possibly wrestling with the Titans in the future.

"I contacted Fullerton and I like them because they have a walk-on program in case I don't make the team right away," Moore said. "I would love to continue wrestling for a while. I love the drive that comes along with it. I love having all the moves choreographed in my head and then doing it in a dominating way when it's time to compete. I hope I can do it for a while."