Cody Thorn The sophomore-to-be has wrestling folkstyle, freestyle and Greco-Roman, all part of a lead up to the Fargo Nationals that will be held July 16-23 in Fargo, South Dakota.
Lopez attended the 16U National Duals in Westfield, Indiana last month and was named to the All-Tournament team at 285 pounds in both freestyle and Greco-Roman — one of only two Kansans to earn such honor and one 18 from across the country to achieve such accolades.
He followed that up by going to the Junior National Duals in Tulsa the middle of last month, going 7-2 in Greco and 5-4 in freestyle.
“I really like him stepping out of his comfort zone and wrestling the two Olympic styles,” Garden City coach Carlos Prieto said. “He is a very hard worker and continues to get better.”
Lopez has been putting up impressive numbers this summer, taking first place seven different times and third three other times.
The work before going to North Dakota features Lopez and his family trekking six hours one way to the Kansas City area to train at KCTC with Clint Slyter, an Olathe North assistant wrestling coach. He has been making the trips to Kansas City the past two weeks after being invited to training with the Kansas City-area wrestlers heading to Fargo. The rest of the week, Lopez workouts and trains in Garden City.
Lopez has the goal of earning All-American honors in freestyle and Greco at Fargo and holds a long-term goal of earning a Division I scholarship in college for the sport he loves.
“I was pretty amazed at how I did the first time ever wrestling freestyle or Greco,” Lopez said of the trip to Indiana for the Cadet Duals, going 8-0 in freestyle and 6-0 in Greco. “I was pretty happy with my performance. It was a big accomplishment. I never really did anything like that, so it was nice.”
The Indiana trip was also the first time he had really been that far away from his parents in his lifetime. Then, the trip to Tulsa followed with the nearly 13-hour trip to Fargo for camp.
“It has been a grind,” he said. “I have been practicing almost every day and the past few days we’ve done two-a-days. We work on a lot of technique.”
During his first season with the Buffaloes, Lopez went 25-5 and took third place in the Class 6A meet.
He beat fellow freshman Brett Carroll, of Olathe East, in the first match by a tech fall, 18-2, but then lost in the semifinals to eventual state champion – and current K-State football player – Damian Ilalio of Manhattan, 8-1. Lopez won 2-0 against Blue Valley’s Nicholas Herzog and then pinned Carroll in a rematch in the third-place match.
Lopez is ready to showcase what he has learned this summer next winter.
“I feel I’m better at Greco-Roman because I’m a lot stronger in my upper body and that helps me out quite a bit,” he said. “I feel like I could move better with my arms. I would say I have gotten better with my takedowns. I have worked on that a lot, being able to move guys around; I feel like that will help a lot next year.”
