Article from the East Valley Tribune:

January 19, 2010 - 9:49PM

VX Insider: Sizing up EV's top wrestlers

 

By Steve Burks, Tribune

They are the cream of the crop, the best at what they do. They are the Tribune's Fab Four of high school wrestling. Chandler's Max Mejia, Desert Mountain's Shane McGough, Williams Field's Heath Boers and Corona del Sol's Derek Felton are all undefeated wrestlers, winning a combined 99 matches this season alone. While there are other quality wrestlers in the East Valley, these four have distinguished themselves as a cut above the rest.
Vidal "Max" Mejia
Grade, school: Jr., Chandler
Current record, weight class: 15-0, 112
2010 accomplishments: Won titles at McClintock Invitational and Flowing Wells Invitational
Past success: 11-0 last year and 5A-I state champion at 103 pounds; 34-12 as a freshman, 6th in 5A-I. Placed 4th at the 2009 USA Wrestling Junior National Championships.
Five questions with Mejia
Describe your wrestling style? Very ugly. It's not nice on the body, almost like a grind. I don't have very many athletic gifts, so I just have to work hard. The only thing I kind of have going for me is a little bit of strength. Nothing flashy. Basic.
How many years have you been wrestling? My first tournament was when I was 6 years old. I really started going to practice every day around seventh grade.
What's the best bit of advice you've received? It's written on our T-Shirts and it says hard work pays off. That might be the best bit of advice.
What is your most memorable defeat? At the national tournament in July, I lost to a really tough kid, Val Rauser from Montana. He was a former national champ and I had him on his back. I should have won the match and I let it slip.
What other wrestler in Arizona (regardless of weight class) would you like to wrestle? I would say Ryak Finch (from Safford), he's the best kid in the country, I believe. You have to wrestle the best to be the best, so I'd like to see what I need to do.
Coach's comment: "For me, the biggest thing with him is he's consistent. You can't have the ups and the downs. For him, he's pretty much coming at whoever he's wrestling with the same game plan, he doesn't change. He is just consistent regardless of how he's feeling. I know how he's going to perform." - Vidal Mejia