State title contender comes home to Maize in Kansas wrestling transfer of the year
Devin Gomez looked to the crowd and used his hand to underline the word on his chest, “Maize.”
Gomez’s home-opening bout lasted about 30 seconds before he earned the fall in Maize’s 45-21 win over Campus on Thursday. But it meant the world to Gomez, a junior.
Gomez transferred from Valley Center to Maize for the 2018-19 season after finishing runner-up in the 138-pound weight class in Class 5A last season. That caused a stir, Gomez said.
“I still have a lot of respect for those guys,” he said. “It was hard, and I knew I was going to get backlash for it. It just did not go the way I thought it was going to. I lost a lot of friends. It was really tough on me for a little bit, but it happens, and I’m happy now.”
Valley Center finished second in the 5A team standings to Goddard last season. The Hornets had the best wrestling year in school history but graduated five seniors who qualified for the state tournament, including three who finished in the top five.
Gomez said with all of the Hornets’ top scorers gone, he wanted to compete for a team title, take the next step individually and most importantly, return home.
Gomez grew up in Maize. He wrestled in the Maize City Wrestling Club with most of his now-teammates and planned to go to high school at Maize High. His family couldn’t find a house, he said, so he went to Valley Center.
He planted roots in the wrestling room. That made leaving so tough.
“I wasn’t improving at the rate I wanted to,” he said. “I genuinely thought I was going to win (state). I worked as hard as I could every day. I thought I was doing it all right, and I think I was. I just didn’t feel like I was surrounded by the right opportunities.”
After a move back to Maize, Gomez was back with his friends, the group he calls his first family.
“Moving to Maize has been the best decision that I have made for myself in my life,” he said. “My parents left it up to me. After the move, I’ve never felt more at home than at Maize.”
Last year a former Maize wrestler, Devin Onwugbufor, beat Gomez in the state-title bout. Gomez said he grew up sparing with Onwugbufor, but that made his transfer an easy target.
He said people in the wrestling community made a spoof of political activist Colin Kaepernick’s commercial slogan with his photo in its place.
“If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, even if it means leaving the team behind,” he said it wrote.
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Gomez said it wasn’t like that, but he has put the politics behind him. Maize is seeking its first wrestling state championship, and though Goddard has won three straight with last year’s title coming by a record margin, the Eagles appear to be the team that could knock the Lions off.
Goddard is No. 1 in Class 5A, according to the latest Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association’s state rankings. Maize is No. 2.
Eagles coach Mike Schauer said he has inherited an outstanding room this season. Gomez is no exception.
Schauer said he didn’t know his return was a possibility until it was official.
“I think someone was mad at me, and I said, ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ ” Schauer said. “People want to go where No. 1, they’re going to get seen, and No. 2, they have good partners.”
The rest of the Eagles are eye-popping. Although Gomez will be wildly important to Maize’s success this season, he might be the fourth-most well known wrestler on the roster.
Sophomore Kyle Haas lost only twice last year as a freshman. Senior Aidan Campbell is signed to wrestle at Division I Arkansas-Little Rock. And junior Duwayne Villalpando is fresh off a state championship and is verbally committed to Nebraska.
But the Eagles will be without Villalpando in 2018-19 after he suffered a season-ending injury to his left knee during his national tournament in Fargo, North Dakota over the summer.
Campbell said that made Gomez’s arrival so important.
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“He’s a top-level dude,” Campbell said. “He comes in, and he kind of fills in where Devin left and helps fill in some of the points we’re losing with Duwayne out.”
Maize will need almost everything to go perfectly to crack Goddard off the top of the team standings come state time, but for now, Gomez said he is living in the moment and is thankful to be back on the west side of Wichita.
“We have been labeled the underdogs,” Gomez said. “Nobody likes it when the best guys win. It doesn’t make for as good of a story. It’s going to be hard, but I can guarantee you no one in Kansas is working as hard as we do.
“I’ve been around a lot of teams, a lot of wrestlers, a lot of environments. Nothing beats Maize.”