Myzar Mendoza, a senior at Winters Mill, is a quick study. He had never stepped onto a wrestling mat until he was a freshman. Had never even seen a match.

But Mendoza (125 pounds), who has a 14-4 record, is one of his team's anchors, and he's something of a surprise to his coach.

"The first year," Winters Mill coach John Lowe said, all the coaches "agreed he would be the first person to quit the junior varsity that year."

But they were wrong. Mendoza was inspired by his coaches' lack of confidence in him, and while he didn't - and still doesn't - much enjoy all the hard work that goes into succeeding in the sport, he found himself fascinated by the result.

"There is nothing enjoyable about wrestling," said Mendoza, 17, who carries a 3.2 grade-point average. "But there is a deep satisfaction in seeing yourself progress."

The work ethic, Lowe said, "is more clearly and directly rewarded in wrestling than in any other sport. A small wrestler who trains and works hard can beat a bigger foe. It doesn't always work that way in other sports."

Question: How did you decide to go out for wrestling?

Answer: Coach Lowe is my sister's adviser. He told me I should come out. I didn't take it too seriously. I had never seen [wrestling] before. I never knew it even really existed. It was just something on TV. But then I went to what is called Open Mat Night, where they teach you a little technique. It wasn't fun at first, but then I found I liked competing.

Q: You said you liked competing. I guess that means you liked winning. Did you have a good record from the start?

A: My JV year, I had a decent record - above .500, I think. The winning was in match and tournament competition. What I liked was competing. It's complicated. I liked losing in practice because it made me feel like I was getting better. I liked seeing my progress.

Q: What did your parents say when you told them you were going out for the wrestling team?

A: They've been very supportive. My dad wrestled in high school [in Mexico], freestyle, but I never knew that. He never talked about it. He still doesn't talk about it, but my dad is probably more into wrestling now than I am.

Q: Do you wrestle outside of your school practices?

A: Oh, yes. My freshman summer, I wrestled in every tournament I could find. Then my friend [and teammate] Gus Mohlhenrich took me to Cary Kolat's Club, and I wrestle on a club team there. I was simply in awe of the coaches at Kolat's.

Q: You mentioned your family is from Mexico, and your name is very unusual. Is it a family name?

A: My parents never tell me who gave me my name. But they are really into Greek mythology. Myzar is a set of Greek constellations. I'm not into Greek mythology.

Q: With your Mexican background, did you pick Spanish as a foreign language?

A: German. When I'm home, my parents want me to speak only Spanish so I won't forget it. But I don't like speaking it at school. I grew up in Texas. I live here. I want to speak English and be understood.

Q: Besides wrestling, do you have other interests?

A: Chorus. I'm a baritone in our highest vocal ensembles.

Q: A baritone? You're not built like a baritone.

A: I can't hit the tenor notes. I pretended I could for a year or two - I thought their parts were more interesting - but it didn't work out.

Q: Singing, wrestling. What do you want to do in college?

A: I want to take some [music] classes in college and join the chorus. But I like the psych program at Wilkes [University] in Pennsylvania. It's a D-III school, so I'll probably wrestle there, too. But I want to be a therapist and teach. I take a child-development class here, which gives us the opportunity to teach pre-K. But I'm not very assertive. I want to teach at the college level when I'm through with school.

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