Billings takes Eagles' pole position

LOOMIS - Cody Billings does his best wrestling standing upright, though the junior's other Del Oro High sport involves much steeper heights. The Golden Eagles' league champion at 103 pounds owns experience as a pole vaulter on the Del Oro track team. Such a multi-sport club is nothing new in Loomis, where Kelden Roberts combined the two pursuits before graduating from the Eagles to UC Davis two years ago. Roberts provided the inspiration to get involved in pole vaulting, said Billings, who sees a willing ally each day he comes to wrestling practice. Mike Maben is both an assistant Eagle wrestling coach and the pole vaulting instructor for Del Oro varsity track. "Pole vaulting is just so relaxed and so smooth," Billings said. "There's no pressure. Wrestling, win or lose, there's the pressure of moving on, (like) that one last overtime match determining whether you go to state or you're done for the year." The season is far from over for Billings. Beginning today in Stockton, he'll join nine other members of the Sierra Foothill League's unbeaten champs at the two-day Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Tournament. Billings won both the SFL and section Division II titles in his weight class. The Masters combines the top performers from each of the section's divisions, and placing among the Masters' top five at 103 would earn the 5-foot-2 grappler a spot in the CIF state championships - his first - the following weekend.He's oozing confidence after the Division II meet, where he avenged an early season loss to Colby Haley with a 12-8 victory over the Ponderosa 103-pounder in the semifinals. The Bruins are a traditional heavyweight of Sac-Joaquin Section wrestling, and they held off the second-place Eagles for the Division team championship."I'm in it to win," the Penryn resident said. "People said (at the beginning of the year) I was good. I never really thought I was good or realized it. Now I'm starting to see. I want to do well in state, and try to win it." Coaches saw his talent early on. Billings, all 80 pounds of him two years ago, played his way into the varsity spectrum as a freshman. But each year sees Del Oro - the winner of the 11 SFL crowns since 1995 - fill its ranks with promising newcomers, and Billings felt the consequences last season.Formerly a junior high state champion, freshman Connor Morgan saw much of the 2005-06 year at 103 pounds. Billings maintains that his sophomore campaign was a season of, "not learning very much." He missed competing alongside those in the final year in the program, the seniors who quickly accepted the slight rookie the previous year. As for head coach Dave Sanchez, he sees a direct link between Billings' high profile in 2007 and his reduced role of a year ago. "It was almost like a redshirt year, where it all helped him get better," he said. "He improved on his defense wrestling with guys like Connor and (119-pounder) Corey Johnson every day. He's very good on his feet. On your feet, it's a lot more complicated. He's got some real speed and strength." Now, Morgan competes at 112 pounds and Billings can carry on a family tradition. Uncle Scott Mason was a Del Oro wrestler before graduating in 1980. He and Sanchez were teammates on the Eagles.Maben was a standout Del Oro wrestler in the late '90s. He spearheaded a school pep rally the day of a big SFL home meet last month against Oakmont, where both he and Billings had significant parts.A skit lampooning pro wrestling saw Maben dress up in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle outfit. In another, Billings playfully wrestled 6-foot-5 Eagle football/basketball standout Robbie Cook.Come the spring season, Billings hopes to wrestle on the club level while also partaking in the pole vault on varsity for the first time."I want my guys do as many sports as they can," Maben said.