High School Male Athlete of the Week: Emilio Franco helps CdM wrestling make a big jump
When Emilio Franco and his family moved from Mexico City to Newport Beach when he was in seventh grade, he searched around for an after-school wrestling program for boys his age.
He came knocking at the door of Mark Alex, and the first instinct of the Sea Kings’ wrestling coach was to tell him that he did not yet have the experience to join right away.
“My dad [Abidan] had to talk to him and tell him, ‘Oh, no. He does jiu-jitsu. He has been doing it since he was 9,’” Franco said. “Since then, he gave me a shot, Mark did, with this other kid, Jack Thompson.”
Franco and Thompson became training partners, and each would find success along their journey.
In 2018, the Sea Kings made a big jump as a program, qualifying for the CIF Southern Section Southern Division dual meet wrestling championships as an at-large selection by placing second in the Pacific Coast League.
While Franco was home-schooled that year, Thompson, a 152-pound wrestler, became one of 10 Sea Kings to qualify for the CIF individual wrestling championships through the Pacific Coast League finals.
It showed that the program was on the rise. Missing interacting with his friends, Franco returned to campus for his sophomore year, and he immediately became one to watch.
In his first season of wrestling, Franco advanced to the CIF Masters Meet. He dropped his first two matches in the state-qualifying tournament, but his desire to prove himself would ensure bigger things were on the horizon.
As a sophomore, Franco made a deep run in the 220-pound bracket at the CIF Northern Division individual wrestling championships. He surrendered a late pin in the quarterfinals to Fountain Valley’s Matthew Fee, who took out four seeded wrestlers as an unseeded competitor to steal the title.
“Part of the motivation was Fee,” Franco said. “That was for sure. I had a talk with him after CIF, asking him what grade he was in, and he told me he was a junior, so I was going to see him [this] year. That was a little fire right off the bat.”
Franco outdid his chosen rival throughout his junior season. He was the Sunset Conference champion at 220 pounds. He also finished as the runner-up in the Northern Division, improving upon his third-place showing from the year before.
The progression did not stop there, as he went 6-1 at the Masters Meet, placing third to break a long state-qualifying drought for the Sea Kings.
Kiersten Muse had gone to state the year prior, but Franco became the first boys’ wrestler from CdM to go to state since Adam Elias in 1979.
“I [was] a little bit overwhelmed, that’s for sure,” Franco said. “Right after getting third place, and after podium, all of that, I went into the car with my brother [Eugenio] and my girlfriend [Erin], because we were driving back home, and I had to sit down and just think for 20 minutes, just thinking, ‘I made it. I’m up there.’”
Having worked with state qualifiers in consecutive seasons now, Alex remarked that it was important to give athletes the resources they need to become better.
He has been flexible with practice schedules, and he even brought in private upper-weight coaches to challenge Franco.
“We started getting him high-level training, and we started teaching him high-level moves because he needs to go to the next level,” Alex said. “His desires are to wrestle in college, so we’re basically teaching him a college style of wrestling already so that when he gets to college, he can be successful there, too.”
Bryant Vasquez and James Brundage were brought on as training partners for Franco. The Sea Kings also have Seth Seneca on the coaching staff.
Alex also started a kids club to help with recruitment for wrestling. Nine of the 14 starters in the CdM lineup this season were part of the club.
The Sea Kings displayed the depth of their lineup in winning the CIF Division 6 dual meet wrestling championships, which surprised even their most ambitious wrestler.
“That day, I thought that we were going to lose the first match, just like last year,” Franco said. “We won the first dual, and I was like, ‘Oh, OK. We’re going to lose the second one.’ … ‘Oh, no, we’re going to lose the semis then.’
“But no, we won the whole thing. When we were in the last dual match, I was like, ‘OK, there is a chance of us winning.’”
The Sea Kings closed it out, beating Montebello 48-23 in the final.
Looking back on the previous season, Franco remembered losing to Lake Arrowhead Rim of the World 42-39 in the first round.
“I don’t want to say that I underestimated my team … but us losing last year and then winning the whole thing this year, it’s a big jump,” Franco said. “We all [made] a big jump from last year to this year, and it’s pretty amazing.”
Franco played laser tag with his brother and his girlfriend the day after the Masters Meet. It generally serves one well to be a smaller target in that game, and Franco finished last among their trio.
The target on Franco’s back only became bigger in earning the distinction of state qualifier.
Emilio Franco
Born: Aug. 9, 2002
Hometown: Mexico City
Height: 5 feet 11
Weight: 220 pounds
Sport: Wrestling
Year: Junior
Coach: Mark Alex
Favorite food: Fettuccine Alfredo
Favorite movie: “Up”
Favorite athletic moment: Franco was thrilled to take third place at 220 pounds in the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet on Feb. 22 because it showed marked improvement from his sophomore season, when he went 0-2 in his first appearance at the state-qualifying tournament.
Week in review: Franco placed third in the CIF Masters Meet at Sonora High to qualify for the CIF State wrestling championships for the first time in his career. He went 6-1 in the tournament, amassing two pins, a technical fall and three victories by decision.
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