Nick Peña, a former Watsonville wrestling standout and Central Coast Section champion, was named the new head coach of the Wildcatz wrestling team for the upcoming 2025-26 winter season.
After taking over as the interim head coach last year, Peña, 44, will return to lead the same wrestling program that he was part of in the late 90s which included a section team and individual title in 1999.
“History is written on the walls, and everything you see, all the banners, you see all the names and everything,” Peña said. “Watsonville High School has a lot of tradition and they’ve had a lot of success when it comes to wrestling.”
Peña replaced Alex Mosqueda, also a former ‘Catz wrestler, who stepped down as head coach a month into the 2024-25 season for personal reasons.
As a team, it’s been 10 years since the Wildcatz hoisted a league championship banner after winning the now defunct Monterey Bay League in 2015-16.
Prior to that, Watsonville had won 14 league titles as members of the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League from 1991 to 2006. They’ve also produced a pair of California Interscholastic Federation State champions in Gus Paz in 1982 and David Barnes in 1979.
Peña’s nephew, Abel, won a CCS title in 2017, which ended a nine-year section title drought for Watsonville. The following year, Gianna Mosqueda won a CCS girls title in 2018.
The first order of business is attempting to raise participation. Peña said they’re starting to get those numbers back up at the middle school level, and youth programs are beginning to pop up, as well.
In an attempt to recruit, Peña began collaborating with Okie’s Kids, a non-profit organization named after former assistant Steve Okamura, who passed away in 2024.
He’s also teaming up with former ‘Catz wrestler Becky Clark at Grit N Grace Academy, an all-girls wrestling gym in downtown Watsonville.
“Ultimately, it comes down to numbers,” Peña said.
Peña plans to host a clinic at Watsonville High on Aug. 30 where he’ll be bringing in world class wrestlers to offer once in a lifetime experiences to the youngsters.
“The main thing I’m looking forward to is seeing these kids grow and develop,” he said. “Wrestling, it’s a tough sport. It’s a grind, there’s not too many kids that are willing to go out for wrestling. But the ones that do, you look at them from when they first stepped on the mat to them being seniors, they go on to have success.”
