Wrestling family has strength in numbers

COVINGTON — At wrestling tournaments across the country, Ruben Navejas looks around and sees a lot of dads cheering and helping their sons on the mat.

But the freshman from Kentwood High School, ranked No. 1 in the state at 103 pounds, says he doesn't see a lot of families. Especially wrestling families like his so immersed in the sport.

His sister Antonia, a junior at Kentwood, is a defending girls wrestling state champion.

His father, Ruben Sr., is in his third year as a volunteer coach for the Conquerors.

His mother, Irene, often captures his every move with a video camera, a record to be dissected later if dad and sis can't be at the match.

Even 10-year-old brother Juan is getting into the family pastime through club wrestling, also coached by Ruben Sr.

"It takes a lot of support, this sport," Ruben Jr. says. "Our whole family is behind us all the way. It's a really nice thing to have, because a lot of other wrestlers don't have it."

The full force of the Navejas family's support will be on display Friday and Saturday at Mat Classic, the state championships at the Tacoma Dome.

Beginning Friday, Ruben Jr.'s mission is to cap an undefeated season with his first Class 4A state title.

Antonia, wrestling at 119, seeks her second state girls championship. As a sophomore, she won last year's state tournament — the first sanctioned for girls by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association — with an 11-1 major decision.

For a family whose idea of light reading is wrestling magazines and manuals, Ruben and Antonia's accomplishments may seem expected.

But they have hardly been effortless. Wrestling is a dawn-to-dusk endeavor for Kentwood's brother and sister act.

During the wrestling season, an average day for the duo includes at least an hour in the gym, two hours practicing after school, and two more hours volunteering with the Kent Cougars club team for kids ages 5-12.

Antonia partly credits her volunteer work teaching the fundamentals of the sport for her competitive edge.

"My brother and I, we don't just leave practice," she said. "We go over to the club, and we roll around with the little kids."

Kentwood coach Ken Sroka says the tenacity and dedication that leads the Navejas pair to spend so many hours practicing each week, as well as attend individual tournaments around the country in the off-season, is readily apparent on the mat.

"They don't stop until the end of the match," Sroka said. "They have fun — it's not like they're 100 percent business — but when they're on the mat, they are 100 percent business."

And that's just the way Ruben Sr., a corrections officer at the King County Regional Justice Center in Kent, wants it.

"Wins and losses don't concern me," Ruben Sr. said. "It's the way you approach the match. I do demand professionalism when they go out there."

Antonia admits, though, that being professional off the mat sometimes can be difficult for a young woman in a traditionally male-dominated sport.

"The other kids have to get used to it," she says. "It's not something they're used to hearing and seeing."

Antonia was largely shielded from barbs from kids when she took up club wrestling at age 5. That changed when she entered middle school and high school.

Antonia, now 17, remembers some of the reactions. "She's a girl," kids would say, "so she can't do the sport."

"We can see what you can do," others might say, "but you're a girl!"

Antonia has a simple response. She smiles, she waves and she beats her next opponent.

All with her family's help.

"I get a lot of support from my brother. ... He's out there training with me," Antonia said.

"I can't leave the sport," she said, speaking as much for the rest of her family as herself. "I just live to wrestle."