CITY SECTION WRESTLING : Ullman Keeping a President’s Schedule

As did the rest of his classmates at El Camino Real High, Rick Ullman finally returned to school Wednesday.

But Ullman spent much of his time during the five-week break on the Conquistadore campus anyway.

The El Camino Real senior class president spent the past few weeks representing students to determine a schedule for the quake-damaged school in discussions with administrators. He attended a two-hour advanced-placement economics class in an undamaged bungalow on campus each morning.

He also found time to prepare for the City Section wrestling championships, scheduled for today at Bell High. The preliminary round will begin at 11:15 a.m. with the finals scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

Ullman, 22-2 in the 152-pound class, is a favorite to win a City title and advance to the state championships next weekend in Stockton. Only the champion in each weight class advances. Ullman placed second in the City at 152 last year.

Last weekend Ullman won the Valley League title and was named the outstanding wrestler in the upper-weight division. El Camino Real won the team title with 163 points.

Ullman’s only two losses this season came in the Morro Bay tournament, a meet that featured many of the state’s top wrestlers. In the Alemany tournament earlier this season, Ullman pinned two opponents, shut out a third and was named the outstanding wrestler.

“Everything has gone really well this season,” Ullman said. “Winning the City has been my goal, and if everything goes well there, then it’ll be a success.”

The mat isn’t the only place Ullman has succeeded. Besides his duty as senior class president, Ullman recently was appointed to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and hopes ultimately to be a fighter pilot.

Ullman is also a top performer on the Conquistadore swim team, specializing in the breaststroke and 200 individual medley.

“(Swimming) practice started this past week but I’ve been busy with other things, including the wrestling,” Ullman said. “I’m supposed to start next week, but that might change depending on this weekend. I’ll probably have to go talk to the swim coach again.”

Ullman turned to wrestling through the swim team. As a freshman, he planned to compete in swimming only but a teammate convinced him to try wrestling his sophomore year.

“I’m not sure who it was that brought him over,” Conquistadore wrestling Coach Terry Fischer said, “but (Ullman has) been our most consistent guy the last two seasons.”

After the earthquake, when Ullman wasn’t at school, he spent afternoons repairing an outside wall at his home or working on his sister’s house in Chatsworth. “But now it’s back to school and back to some kind of normalcy,” Ullman said.

El Camino Real has the best chance of unseating defending City champion Bell.

Monroe finished second in the Central League and is led by Alfonso Brizuela at 125 pounds. Jose Barahona, a City champion at 125 pounds for Canoga Park, returns at 130.

Senior twins Fernando (135 pounds) and Armando Avila (140) of Chatsworth won City titles at 145 and 140 last year.