Junior Luke Suro placed fourth in the Colorado USA Wrestling Championship last year. This year, he’s planning on performing even better.
“I broke my leg sophomore year and freshman year I didn’t even make it to State. I’d never really seen any success at the high school level.”
In spite of the obstacles Suro faced in his underclassmen years, he consistently performed well in the wrestling off-season, competing at unsanctioned high school tournaments. But outside of the wrestling season, he’s found other ways to build up his strength, including participating in cross country at the varsity level. This sport has enabled him to train in a different way than many of his wrestling opponents.
“There are only a few [wrestlers] that are at that level in cross country,” said Suro. “Running is one of the hardest trainings, alongside wrestling.”
And although he’s still relatively new to the sport, his other athletic experiences have allowed him to surpass others with ease.
“I did have martial arts experience. I did jiu jitsu for twelve years of my life, since I was four years old. That gave me an edge…it helped accelerate my learning of wrestling and it helped me get as good as I did because I already knew something called mat awareness,” said Suro.
Suro will begin to see his skills put to the test tonight in a duel against Centaurus.
“We beat them last year, we’re looking to beat them again.”
But looking beyond the season, he ensures that he doesn’t let his athletic ambitions get in the way of his academic life.
“Academics is the most important part of school, above athletics. I’m trying to get into a good college and if they’ve got a sanctioned wrestling team I’d love to walk-on.”
Nonetheless, he cites the team’s current leadership as the reason for his recent success and a hopeful indication of what the future may hold for the Littleton wrestling program. In particular, Head Coach Ronnie Kois’ impact on the team has greatly improved the program from its former reputation.
“He really wants to stay here, build the program, make Littleton known. He’s done a really good job with that. If he didn’t recruit anybody, we would’ve had three people on the team last year,” said Suro.
Suro’s successes have withstood numerous injuries, coaching changes, and a global pandemic. He is the top wrestler at Littleton and has hopes to make a mark in higher-ranked competitions. But the glory isn’t the only thing that drives him to succeed in this sport.
“The reason I keep coming back even after injuries is that I want to prove myself. I want to make people proud. I’ve got a family in that team, they’re like a second family to me and I can’t let them down, I can’t give it up.”
