Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week: Steven Russell

Barry Faulkner

On wrestling’s evolutionary scale, Corona del Mar High senior

Steven Russell is somewhere not far beyond standing erect.

But though primitive, it is power the predacious 6-foot-2, 255-pound

heavyweight has unleashed on the mat this season ... with surprisingly

impressive results.

“He has limitations,” CdM Coach Gary Almquist said of the decorated

football lineman, who made basketball his winter sporting pursuit as a

sophomore and a junior. “But he is doing a lot with basic instinct,

athleticism and drive.”

Russell’s crude attack -- he self-described “repertoire” of moves

includes the headlock and the sprawl, the former every kid learns on the

playground, the latter, thrusting spread legs backward to avoid an

opponent’s attempt to grab one or both, every wrestler absorbs at his

first practice -- had produced an 11-2 record through his first two

tournaments. After finishing third in the season-opening Foothill

Tournament, Russell went 4-0 at the prestigious Irvine Tournament

Saturday to claim the heavyweight crown.

Russell, a two-time All-Pacific Coast League offensive tackle who was

the football team’s MVP as a senior, pinned Irvine High’s Daniel Hardin

85 seconds into the title match. He pinned two opponents and decisioned

another, 11-5, en route to the final.

“I’ve surprised myself a little bit, because I haven’t wrestled since

my freshman year,” said the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week, whose

previous tenure in the wrestling room when a broken hand sustained in

football prevented him from playing basketball.

“Coach Almquist has been hounding me to wrestle ever since, but I kind

of ignored him.”

Almquist, however, remained persistent and Russell’s swan song season

just might become something special.

“He’s such an athlete,” Almquist said. “The (football) strength coach

said he may be the strongest guy in CdM weightlifting history. As a

freshman, he showed a natural understanding of body position, which isn’t

always the case with big guys. He’s very strong on the mat and he doesn’t

like to get pushed around. He took a guy down eight times in the first

period one match this year, which is very unusual for a heavyweight. He’s

so strong, he wears kids out and nobody can hold him down. I sat down

with him the other day and we talked about him qualifying for the Masters

Meet (the step after section finals, from which top finishers move on to

the state championships).”

And though Almquist loves Russell’s attitude, calling him an ideal kid

who is thoughtful, respectful and eminently coachable, the veteran

wrestling mentor said he is reluctant to introduce too many moves to his

fledgling fearsome force.

“I don’t want to try to teach him too much, because what he’s doing

now is working pretty well,” Almquist said. “He’s just going out and

hammering people.”

Russell, too, is reluctant to cloud his one-track mind with technical

minutia.

“I see other guys doing all these double legs and high crotches,”

Russell said. “But I don’t do anything fancy. I always go for the

headlock, or I sprawl and fall on top of the guy.”

Occasionally, Russell’s methods move onlookers to respond.

“I slammed a guy to the mat in the Irvine Tournament and I heard the

crowd go ‘Ooh,’ ” he said. “That got me pumped up.”

Pumping iron has helped make Russell a bully with a headgear. His

combination of bench press (325 pounds) squat (485) and power clean (285)

earned him the school three-lift record last summer.

“The biggest thing I have going for me is strength,” said Russell, who

is also developing confidence.

“I think he thought he could be competitive this year, but confidence

really crept up on him last week,” Almquist said.

“I’m getting more and more comfortable,” said Russell, who plans to

play football at a local community college next year. “But when it comes

to moves, I want to take one thing at a time.”