Cody Thorn
In preparations for the 2024 Air Force Special Warfare Junior National Duals, Coach Ray Bedford helped bring in a pretty big name in terms of college wrestling.
Two-time NCAA champion Vita Arujau from Cornell came to Spartan Mat Club in Fort Worth and worked on drills with the Team Texas Junior squad — both boys and girls — on June 17.
That provided a final tuneup before the trip to Tulsa for competition this week at Cox Business Conventional Center.
Arujau won the 133-pound title in the 2023-24 season as the No. 6 seed and beat No. 1, 2 and 3 on the way to a repeat. The year prior he was named the most outstanding wrestler at the championship and beat Penn State’s Roman Bravo-Young for the title.
Arujua was a four-time NCAA All-American.
“I’m learning a lot of laces and arm drags and all that cool stuff,” said Will Deutschlander, who attends Austin Lake Travis. “It is cool to have him here. People don’t think Texas is really good (at wrestling) and having guys like that help us improve is big.”
Deutschlander, who wrestles for 3F Wrestling in the offseason from high school season, spent time working out this year at New York City Regional Training Center — his first trip to New York City.
He is heading to the National Duals coming off a pair of state titles in May during another trip to Fort Worth….
