A lot can change in three years.

As a freshman at West Hall High, Ricardo Mancilla was more than a thousand miles from home and spoke no English.

He had never thought about being a wrestler and never seen a match.

Last Saturday, Mancilla, now a junior, became a Hall County wrestling champion.

Trailing Ryan Raber 13-4 in the closing moments of the match that would most likely decide the winner of the Hall County championships, Mancilla thought it was over for the Spartans. Raber was clinging to his back and his shoulders were coming ever closer to the mat.

“I thought I was going to lose,” Mancilla said. “But I just kept trying. And then I flipped him.”

In the span of seconds, Mancilla had reversed positions with Raber, and began driving the Flowery Branch wrestler’s shoulders toward the mat.

It took almost half a minute, but Raber’s shoulders finally touched, and Mancilla won by pin, capping off a 7-0 tournament and propelling West Hall to a team championship.

For his efforts, Mancilla is The Times Athlete of the Week.

“He works his butt off,” West Hall coach Eric Radich said of Mancilla. “His technique and his heart are his strengths. In that last match, he was down, but he didn’t stop wrestling.”

Despite believing he was going to lose, Mancilla wasn’t intimidated and didn’t stop trying. He showed much the same tenacity as a freshman soccer player who, after being encouraged by a friend, decided to try wrestling.

Growing up in Mexico — his parents live in Mexico City — Mancilla had no experience with wrestling. Like most young athletes in that part of the world, Mancilla grew up playing soccer. He still plays the sport, as a member of West Hall’s junior varsity team, but now his focus is wrestling.

“I like wrestling more, now,” Mancilla said.

At first Mancilla didn’t enjoy the hard work required to be a wrestler, but his friends and coaches continued to encourage him and he stuck with it. Now, according to Radich, Mancilla spends every extra moment he has learning how to be better on the mat.

 “He’s dedicated to doing whatever it takes to be better,” Radich said. “He’s come a long way, and I think he’ll continue to progress.”

Mancilla applies that same sense of hard work to school, where he is taking both an extra math and English class in hopes of improving his English, while keeping his grades high enough to go to college.

“I want to go to college, so I have to keep working,” Mancilla said.

He hopes to be able to wrestle in college as well.

Radich believes that Mancilla will qualify for the state sectionals this weekend at the Area traditional championships.

“We think he’ll qualify,” Radich said. “He’s not flawless but he wants to do whatever it takes to be.
“He may not get to spend as much time in the weight room as we’d like because of his schedule,” Radich said. “But if we told him we had a match in California, he’d be in the car.”

It’s that kind of encouragement, support and belief that has Mancilla grateful to those around him.

“I just have nothing but thanks for my coaches and my teammates and everyone who helps me,” Mancilla said.

The Area 8-AAA traditional tournament will take place at Chestatee High, beginning at 5 p.m. Friday.