Vista High's Meza doubles up

05-06-2007

By Tom Shanahan, San Diego Hall of Champions

Multi-sport athletes are rare in high school sports these days, but in any era there aren’t many who can pull off the unique double that Anthony Meza is accomplishing at Vista High.

He’s a wrestler in the winter and a baseball player in the spring, although those two sports are noted for their year-round discipline.

“I think I’m the only one crazy enough to do it,” Meza said of his double.

And he isn’t just another guy on the team in either sport for the Panthers.

In wrestling, he won the CIF State wrestling title at 145 pounds on Saturday, March 3. Theree days later -- after one day of practice on Monday -- he started for the Panthers at second base and went 3-for-4.

If you think that’s amazing, he did essentially the same thing as a sophomore. He placed sixth at the state wrestling meet on Saturday and on the following Tuesday had three hits.

“It shows you his natural athletic ability,” Vista baseball coach Rick LaPierre said. “It’s tough for any winter sport athlete to play a spring sport, and wrestling and baseball has to be the toughest combination.”

Meza, a 5-foot-9, 155-pounder in baseball who bats lead off, is among the Panthers’ leaders in average and runs scored.

“The mental part of both sports helps me,” Meza said. “When I was down by a point in the state wrestling final, I had to keep my composure. It’s the same thing in baseball when you have a couple of strikes on you.

“In wrestling and baseball, you always have to be aware of the score and the situation. In wrestling, you have to react quickly to a guy making a move; in baseball you have to react quickly to a ball hit up the middle.”

One reason a wrestling-baseball double is unique is both sports are highly specialized in the area of perfecting techniques.

“He has great hand-eye coordination,” LaPierre said. “He’s quick, he makes contact and he hits from the left-side, so he gets down the base path quickly. Even when he’s not making solid contact early in the year until he gets his timing down, he can beat out a lot of balls.”

Meza admits he and his father, Mark, will get away to the baseball cages during wrestling season -- it never hurts to get an extra workout in when you need to watch your weight -- to keep his baseball skills sharp. But during baseball season, he doesn’t compete in off-season wrestling tournaments for fear of an injury.

Actually, Meza started his high school career planning to be a three-sport athlete. He played football his freshman year and planned to continue playing.

But after beginning to understand his wrestling potential following the winter wrestling season, he decided to limit his focus to wrestling and baseball.

“My freshman year my wrestling coach (Chris Davis) said I could be a state placer,” Meza said. “I didn’t believe him at first, but then I started to have some success. I wanted to be a state champion.”

After winning his state title, Meza said he his hearing more from college wrestling recruiters than baseball. But he is undecided on which sport to pursue in college.

“It’s going to be tough to decide what to do,” he said. “I love both sports. I love being part of the team and working out with my friends in both sports.”

LaPierre says Meza has college potential, but he recognizes his wrestling future might be brighter after his state title. Meza was 46-4 as a junior and was Vista’s first state champion in wrestling since 1982.

“I think there is a place for him at the college level, even if he had to start at a junior college,” LaPierre said.

But for at least another year as a senior, Meza can enjoy doubling up in wrestling and baseball.