Timeout wrestling: Portage’s Torres benefits from close ties to home

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Portage's Julian Torres (right) wrestles Lake Central's Kyle Ayersman during the Portage at Lake Central wrestling meet held at Lake Central High School on Wednesday January 18, 2012. | Charles Mitchell~For Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 23, 2012 8:23AM

Of all the places for his parents to build a house, Julian Torres’ chose to build one next door to Leroy Vega.

That means Torres, a 126-pound Portage junior, has a guaranteed ride to and from school. But it also means his wrestling coach can be up in his grill at all hours of the day.

“If I need to check his weight, I can go right next door,” Vega said jokingly.

Actually, Torres doesn’t mind his coach being just a shout away. Vega, in his first year at the Portage helm after he won two state titles with the Indians and was a three-time All-American in college at Minnesota, has taken Torres under his wing.

“We’ve been able to work one-on-one a lot,” Torres said. “He’s always there for me, being my next door neighbor. Even when I have a question on the weekend, I can walk over and see if we can talk.”

Vega has close ties to the Torres family, going back to Vega’s youth. But Torres doesn’t get special treatment. It’s quite the opposite.

“Julian and I have a different relationship because I know the family and because I live next door to him,” Vega said. “I would say I’m harder on him. But the good thing is that we try to talk and get through all that.”

Torres took a 23-5 record into Saturday, including a runner-up finish to Lake Central two-time state champion Kyle Ayersman in the Duneland Conference meet at Valparaiso. He advanced to the semistate last year, losing in the ticket round to the individual state meet.

“It was in the back of my mind all summer and so far this season,” Torres said. “It’s motivated me.”

And that’s what Vega wants. Not just from Torres, but from all his wrestlers.

“I’m trying to get Julian to start pushing himself to get to that next level,” Vega said. “To be successful, you have to believe you can beat anybody. It’s a matter of not being satisfied with where you’re at.”

Torres has taken that advice to heart.

“Every single day, at least once or twice, (Vega is) always telling is it’s never good enough, never be satisfied,” Torres said. “That’s truly something you have to live by as a wrestler. One day you can be on top of the world and the next day down in the dumps. You have to fight through it and always work toward your next goal.”

That next goal is clearly one that includes an appearance at the state meet this year.

“If he becomes only a semistate qualifier this year, I don’t think that’s going to be good enough,” Vega said. “I don’t think he’ll accept that. He put in a lot of work over the summer. He hasn’t missed a practice, and he’s learning to push himself. I keep telling him, you’ve got to get uncomfortable to get better.”

Perhaps. But the guidance of his coach and family friend will never be uncomfortable for Torres.

“He’s always got an eye on me,” Torres said.