A fourth-place finish in the state wrestling tournament should have been a good reason to celebrate.
For Calvary Chapel’s William “Tank” Knowles, it provided him with the motivation for his junior season.
As a sophomore, Knowles battled through a left knee injury to qualify for state and a right ankle injury at the state tournament, to place fourth in his weight class.
Satisfied? Accomplished? Not Knowles.
That night in the Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield, Knowles set two primary goals for his junior season: to go undefeated and win the state title.
“That gave me a ton of motivation,” said Knowles, the Register’s 2009-10 Boys Athlete of the Year along with Servite golfer Patrick Cantlay. “A lot of the reasons for the injuries were due to not having enough strength in my legs and knees. I started lifting a lot and working out everyday.”
He entered the season ranked No. 1 in the state at 215 pounds and was welcomed with a brutal opening tournament at the prestigious Walsh Ironman in Ohio.
“That was one of my most memorable tournaments,” Knowles said. “There is a big rivalry between West Coast and East Coast wrestling, and we were sick of hearing about it.
“We traveled back there to one of the toughest tournaments in the nation with something to prove.”
Knowles let his wrestling do the talking, winning his first tournament of the season. The closest match was a 9-4 decision in the finals.
He was the only California wrestler to win an individual title.
He would eventually win every tournament he entered (Reno TOC, SoCal Challenge, Five Counties, CIF, Masters and State) to finish the season 42-0.
Goals accomplished.
“That is the best season that a wrestler can have,” Calvary Chapel coach Arsen Aleksanyan said.
His dominance at a high level made him a leading candidate for the county honor as only a junior.
“It was a long journey,” Knowles said of his season. “I couldn’t have done it without my coaches and my family for driving around and supporting me. That gave me the reason to go all out and give back to the people who mean so much to me.”
Knowles also credited his workout partner, teammate and two-time state champion Morgan McIntosh, for helping him be at his best during competitions.
Along the road to perfection, Knowles encountered a couple of potential stumbling blocks, most notably in the form of Centennial of Corona’s J.T. Felix.
It was Felix who emerged as the No. 1 obstacle standing in the way of Knowles and his undefeated season. They met three times.
The first match was in the finals at Five Counties, with Knowles winning, 4-1. They next met in the finals at Masters, and again it was Knowles coming out victorious, 3-2 in overtime. The third came in the finals of the state tournament, which ended up being a 3-2 victory for Knowles.
“Beating a kid like that, three times, speaks volumes,” Aleksanyan said. “He had to find a way to win and he did.”
Knowles did eventually suffer a defeat, coming in the finals of the FloNationals, a first-year tournament after the high school season, late in March.
Nick Gwiazdowski of New York scored two crucial ride-outs in overtime to edge Knowles, 4-3.
How did Knowles respond? The only way he knows how.
“I took it personally,” he said. “I started training a lot. A loss can be good. You learn a lot more in losing than you do in winning. It humbled me.”
Since then, Knowles has won the Greco State Championships and will compete next month at Greco Nationals. He will eventually take a break, before beginning his preparation for his senior season.
“There is still a lot accomplish for him,” Aleksanyan said. “He’s not content with his success.”
