It’s rare for a high school freshman to make the varsity team. It’s rarer for that freshman to dominate older competition.
And it’s virtually impossible to accomplish what SLAM Nevada’s Manuel Saldate and Liberty High’s Melvin Whitehead did over the past four seasons on the wrestling mat.
They became Nevada’s 40th and 41st four-time state wrestling champions—a feat unseen in large schools since 2010.
Whitehead compiled an astounding 211-11 career record without losing to any Nevada opponent. This season, he went 54-1 with 50 pins to cap a career that included nine All-American honors and placing third among 60 competitors at the prestigious Doc Buchanan Invitational.
“The plan was to dominate from day one,” Whitehead says. “I knew I had the discipline and dedication to do it.”
Saldate established a new state record with 228 career victories, also never losing to Nevada competition. He excelled beyond high school by winning the under-20 Greco-Roman nationals last month.
Under Saldate’s leadership, SLAM Academy captured its fourth consecutive 5A state championship with a record 280 points and eight individual champions.
Both wrestlers have secured rare collegiate scholarships—Whitehead to Arizona State and Saldate to Oregon State.
Of his success, Saldate said, “it’s part of the process to get to another goal” of winning a collegiate title.
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