Folkstyle national champ Isaac Salas is turning heads at Cadet level

Isaac Salas, an eighth grader from Santa Clarita, Calif., is one the wrestling world should keep its eye out for. One who is already adding his own spunk to the sport.

“Since I was a little kid, I like to train hard and be mean when I wrestle,” Salas said. “I like there to be fear in my opponents whenever I wrestle them. If I know they’re fearful of me, then I already know I’m going to win. I look in their eyes and if I see they’re afraid of me, then I know I’ve already won.”

Last weekend at the 2017 USA Wrestling Folkstyle Nationals, Salas turned heads, taking down two Fargo champions en route to winning the 106-pound Cadet national title.

Notching wins by major decision, fall and DQ, Salas sailed to the semifinals, where he faced Iowa’s Cullan Schriever, the 2016 Cadet Freestyle champ at 88 pounds.

Salas dominated the match, scoring first with a takedown and surrendering only two points in his 9-2 win over the top-seeded wrestler.

“I was supposed to wrestle him at Tulsa Nationals,” Salas said. “He didn’t show up, and I was pretty anxious. I wanted to know where he was at (as a wrestler) and wrestling him shows me where I’m at. By beating him, I know what my level is now.”

He had earned his spot in the national finals. Waiting for Salas on the other side was 2016 Fargo champion at 94 pounds, Jeremiah Reno of Missouri.

 Salas picked up takedowns in the first and third periods, enough to secure the victory and a national championship.

“I talked to my coaches after my (finals) match. Even though I feel like 4-1 isn’t a good win for me, my coach told me that the way I wrestled was probably one of my best matches. I was raised to want to win big in a match. I want the guy to know that he has no chance of coming back. There has to be a margin where the guy thinks, ‘No, I couldn’t have beat him.’”

Only in middle school, Salas exudes confidence and a passion for the sport. His dedication is easily noticeable.

A week after his finals match, after breaking down the bout, Salas identified all the things he needed to work on and has committed himself to improving.

“I need to work on my bottom work. I didn’t get up in the second period. I got called for stalling, which I didn’t like. I also need to set up more shots. In that finals match, I could have had a couple more shots. I have to look at the things that I need to do and look at the technique that I could have or what I did wrong. Then I just train, train, train until I fix those things,” he said.

Back in August, Salas began training with Ruben Valencia and Sunkist Kids, and since then he said he’s seen drastic improvements in every position.

He’s also found a few role models to shape his wrestling style after—all Californians.

“Anthony and Zahid Valencia, their technique and aggressiveness has helped me,” he said. “With (Aaron) Pico, his aggressiveness and style. I’ve seen a few of his matches, and if he loses, he goes back for his third-place match and he knows that he has nothing to lose. He just goes out mean and wants it. Another person is Cade Olivas. I like his style, too. He’s similar to Aaron Pico. Very physical and he doesn’t back down.”

California is emerging as one of the top states in wrestling and is producing some great athletes. In fact, eight Californians, including Salas, earned national titles at Folkstyle Nationals last weekend.

“[Californians] all work our butts off really hard and we’re not afraid of hard work. We’re also very consistent with our work ethic. We like to go to a lot of tournaments and we’re not afraid to back down from any challenges,” Salas said.

Looking to follow in the footsteps of some Cali all-stars and set some milestones himself, Salas has his eyes set on four high school state titles, NCAA championships and a spot on the U.S. Olympic team one day.

Up next for Salas is the Las Vegas Kids and Cadet Open April 26-29. After that, he plans to go out for the Cadet World Team at the UWW Cadet World Team Trials in Akron, Ohio, in June.

“When you know you’re very sincere with your work, then you can be confident that it will show in your wrestling,” he said. “When it shows, that’s when you know you can say all that stuff and it’s true. After I’m wrestling, I feel good about the way I wrestled and the results will be the outcome I want because of the way I train. I know that everything I did leading up to it will help me because with the way I train, there is no way I can lose.”