Ambitious, hardworking, and diligent are some words used to describe senior Caleb Delgado. Delgado, who his friends refer to as Del, is a talented multi-sport athlete who has played varsity football and wrestling for all four years of high school. His main sport being wrestling, it’s always been a major part of Delgado’s life and he started his career very early at the age of four. When his father put him into StrongHold, a wrestling club held in the wrestling room of Elsinore High School.
This gave Delgado a place for him to master the fundamentals of wrestling which would come in handy for high school and give him a boost over some of the competition. It was shortly after this that his parents also put him into youth tackle football, which was another outlet for him to improve his quickness and agility. When high school finally came around Delgado went straight out to the football field, and had a solid freshman year being a backup for many key positions, and getting his time on the kickoff team. Following a tough 14-49 loss to Alhambra high school it was time for wrestling season to start and Delgado did not disappoint, qualifying for CIF individuals and placing 8th. While this wasn’t quite enough for a spot at the masters tournament it was extremely close and an excellent start for only being a freshman.
During the wrestling off season Delgado focused on lifting weights and practicing his craft coming back to football helping lead the team to a 9-2 season. Following this it was time for wrestling season where Delgado continued to dominate making it to CIF playoffs again but coming short again. Coming up on his junior season Delgado cemented himself into a starting position on the football team. He proceeded to have a breakout season proving himself to be a very key part of the defense having 62 tackles throughout the season. He slowly improved throughout the wrestling season but unfortunately didn’t qualify for masters. This led to him having a personal drive to make masters for his senior year since he got snipped the last three years in a row. Senior year started off with football, and had a combined 82 tackles throughout the season. Although the Rangers lost 15-23 in the first round of the CIF playoffs to Pasadena High School, it was a hard fought battle to the end.
This motivated Delgado even more and he had something to prove this wrestling season and dominated throughout the season placing at multiple tournaments. Then when it came to the CIF playoffs he fought hard in the first round and although he qualified for masters he got disqualified due to a technicality, and his masters spot was given to the next placer. Although he got snipped from going to masters, he had an excellent end to the season and ended his senior year with a bang.
When asked about what he wants to do in the future Delgado simply explained, “I plan on attending the Grecos Roman State Tournament this summer and taking first place out of 100 kids. From there I want to attend junior college for two years to get more experience then transfer to a four year university and compete at a D1 level for four years.”
Caleb Delgado’s journey is far from over, and is a picture perfect example of how hard work and dedication pays off in the long run. He will go on to compete for many years to come, and if he keeps up the hard work it’s not long until he will be competing at the highest level on national TV.
