Up, up and away for Santa Fe High’s Adam Pena as he went on a faraway adventure to compete in a wrestling tournament down under in Australia

It was such a long ride in the air, his back-to-back yearly road trips with the Demons to Colorado and Kansas, couldn’t compare to his approximate 20 hours of flying

By ARNIE LESHIN, Santa Fe Today

One thing Adam Pena doesn’t need is a travel agent. Because for a 16-year-old heading into his junior year at Santa Fe High School, he’s already put in plenty of miles without one.

He first hit the road his freshman year when he traveled with his wrestling teammates to tournaments in Colorado. Ditto last year when the Demons traveled the highways to Colorado and Kansas. These are about six-hour rides of sightseeing, having fun, and competing.

Credit for this goes to Demons’ head coach Stephen Burns, because not long after he happily welcomed the position late in the 2015 campaign, he knew right away where his team was going. Formerly a wrestling coach in his native state of Colorado, he returned there by entering his team in some rough and tumble tournaments.

Kudos to him for this. Kudos to him for alerting Pena about the invitation to compete in the Australian National Youth Championships. The invite came to the coach, he called on the youngsters to see who would want this opportunity, and only Pena accepted.

This was going to be a long ride, long ride, which made Colorado and Kansas short rides, for now he was fund raising for an approximate 20-hour airplane adventure to the down under.

“I thought it was a great opportunity,” he said. “I talked it over with family members and they agreed with me. My mom and my uncle helped out, so did my friends, and we had a few fundraisings before I had enough money to fly.”

Amazing how someone can enjoy back-to-back yearly rides to other states and follow it up with “up, up and away.” Some people live a lifetime and are not treated to adventures like this.

Pena also had carte blanche, well sort of, for he just relaxed and took in the sights on the road trips and now he could relax in the air doing the same from his window seat. You know, just relax and let others do the driving and the piloting.

“It was exciting, “said Pena. “I flew by myself until we changed planes in Los Angeles, and that’s where I met some of the other wrestlers. In Australia, we shared apartments and that was good. We ate well, the food was great, the people were great, and the country was beautiful.”

And he won his weight championship by winning all three of his matches in the 113-pound division.

Taking off seven pounds from the 120 he fought under his sophomore season, he had no problem in his initial bout. He was so far enough, it was called via a technical decision. Next came a quick pin in two minutes, followed by an ever quicker one in 1:30 to earn him a trophy and a medal to rest alongside him on the return trip.

“It was so neat,” he said. “We wrestled in a brand-new indoor arena, we had some good crowds, and the competition was pretty good.”

As a SFHS freshman, Pena said he had trouble making 106 pounds, and this time he said he had difficulty making 113 pounds.

And it wasn’t a weekend adventure for Pena, no it was from July 9th to the 19th, enough time to fly far, compete, tour, eat, meet new people, and return home with plenty of news to tell about his adventure.

He first took up wrestling about 10 years ago, played on the high school football team his freshmen year, and spent his first two years excelling for the wrestling team and not returning to football his sophomore season. He played fullback and wide receiver on the gridiron, but now he’s only taking to the mats.

He has been part of the resurgence in the program since Burns came aboard. The Demons compete in the big-school 6A, there’s no way out, and Burns has provided confidence and optimism to his teams. He has tied together experience and balance. Plus, he hasn’t had a problem getting youngsters out for the team after popularizing the program.

This past season saw Pena claim fifth place in the state championships. He came in at 120 pounds and finished the season at 24-8 after turning in a 8-3 decision over senior Joey Santana of Las Cruces. His freshman year he placed third in the competitive district tournament.

His buddy is fellow incoming junior Sammy Martinez, the other half of the one-two punch. They attended Capshaw Middle School, competing on the wrestling team and also grappling with the Patriot Wrestling Club.

They stick together, root for each other, plus Pena even takes time to work with his 12-year-old brother on the mats.

For them, Burns has nothing but good to say: “Adam and Sammy are on the honor roll, get straight As, and have very good attitudes. I call them ‘beauty and the beast.’ The tag ‘beauty’, is for Adam, Sammy is the ‘beast.’

Burns, who Pena considers a very good coach who has helped him a lot, added that the young man has the finesse, is a smart kid and very easy to coach. He said that Pena loved the road trips, so it will be interesting to hear about this one that was thousands upon thousands miles from the City Different and whose closest neighbor is New Zealand.

There, Pena gained the experience of competing against those from other lands. At the prestigious 58th annual Rocky Welton Invitational in Garden

City, Kan., he welcomed the experience of competing in a power-packed 64-school field that brought the finest grapplers from Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska.

That adds up to lessons learned in such a short time, and he still has two more years on the mats at Santa Fe High.

Even as a freshman, he displayed signs of good things to come. In fact, he and Martinez had won 17 in a row before losing, and. Pena wound up at 32-7. At 6A schools Rio Rancho and Albuquerque Cibola, he won both times, and was most impressive going four-for-four versus the Rams.

“I have great support from my family and friends,” said Pena. “I called my mom as soon as we landed in Australia, and it was weird making such a long-distance call, it took a little time, and was complicated.”

Born and raised in Santa Fe, Pena already has thoughts of attending college and wrestling, hopefully with a scholarship attached.

But before that he might still be finding more adventurous trips. The way he lucks out and grabs the opportunities, who needs a travel agent to hit the road and fly the skies?