Wrestling is a highly intensive sport, but senior captain Andres Calleja excels at his incredibly difficult regimen for PLD wrestling. Calleja, who has a record of 25-10, is the only Dunbar wrestler who qualified to compete in the wrestling state tournament at Alltech Arena on Feb. 17-18.

“I’m not trying to sound cliche,” said Calleja, “but [wrestling] means everything to me.”

His daily schedule includes more than after-school practices; every minute of his day can be traced back to wrestling. From a strict diet to extra cardio before and after school, it’s clear that his passion for the sport drives him to succeed.

“I wake up around 6 a.m. for my morning run,” he said. “Every morning I run two miles.”

In order to prevent being overweight for his 106 lb weight class, Calleja said that he eats minimally throughout the day.

“I have to watch my diet, so I have a limited amount of meals,” he said.

He said that he rarely sits down at the table for breakfast, and he eats a very small lunch in order to maintain his weight. After school, he heads to the gym and sets up for practice.

Wrestling practice officially starts at 5 p.m. but Calleja is there before anyone else.

“Every day I show up 45 minutes early to set up for practice,” he said. “I have to roll out the mats, and fill the mop buckets with bleach and water.”

As the captain, he leads the team in warm-ups and through sparring matches. At the end of practice, he cleans everything up, goes home, eats a small dinner and goes to sleep to get ready for the next day.

He has received support from his family and the Dunbar community. His teammates this year include Charlie Habash, Allan Friend, Alex Spaulding, Caleb Bowling, Jack Burton and Evan Scearce. Calleja said that this support has been instrumental in his growth as a wrestler.