Mexico boys wrestling is coming off a good season under head coach Gayle Adams.

Grant Van Horn won his first state championship in his senior season, which ended with him being named the Class 2 district wrestler of the year, and Carlos Juarez Ramirez qualified for his second state finals among a group of eight state qualifiers. It is the latest state group Adams led and it will also be the last group he leads as he announced last week he is stepping away from coaching. 

Adams has coached the Mexico boys program for 16 years — 13 years as head coach — and has more than 200 dual victories over that time along with a plethora of state champions, medalists and qualifiers. Mexico earned state trophies during Adams’ tenure, finishing third in Class 2 in 2011 and second in 2017 before winning a state championship in 2018. 

“We’re in a good position right now,” Adams said. “I’m in a good place, and Mexico wrestling’s in a great place. I had seven coaches that all wrestled for me. I just wanted to leave the program in a better spot than it was when I took it over.”

Adams said he considered stepping away off and on since the state championship in 2018, explaining “it’s never a good time” when it comes to making this decision. For most of this season, Adams said he didn’t think about it seriously until after the state tournament. He has enjoyed watching wrestlers come into the program and then come out better, but it was time to “rip that Band-Aid off.” 

This season was the second straight one Mexico sent as many as eight to state and will have six of those wrestlers coming back next year. Knowing that, Adams said he wants to “explore different options” and be done with coaching “for now” after coaching year-round every year. He said he will “always be around wrestling” and follow the progress of his alma mater, where he was all-state in wrestling, football and baseball.

“I got to step away,” Adams said. “Whoever takes over the program, they’ve got to be able to make their mark. If I was still around, they would second guess them or come to me to ask questions. I want them to be able to run the program that they want to.”

Adams began as an assistant for three years under Nick Hoth but had at least 10 years experience coaching youth wrestling for Mexico. During what has been more than 25 total years of coaching, Adams has noticed his wrestlers grow up and have kids of their own. 

The program is in a state now that “anyone that finishes Mexico High School wrestling is special,” according to Adams. Any given season, he said the wrestlers that grinded through until the end of the season and especially to graduation deserves praise. That is the type of program Adams wanted when he started.

“When I first started, we were getting kids more interested in wrestling and wrestling at that next level,” Adams said. “Wrestling has a lot of peaks and valleys just like life. When we’re at the highest of highs, there’s always the lowest of lows. We’re trying to teach those kids to work through life just like wrestling. Everything that you do in life, you’ve got to work hard at it.”

Adams said there were many kids that went on to wrestle in college, but even when that’s not the case, there are many that have carved good lives for themselves in a variety of professions. He said he was fortunate to have a staff that had wrestled in college and know they can keep the program on its current trajectory.

Three-time state champion Kellen Ekern and two-time champion Dillon Nichols won titles in that state championship season in 2018. Brit Wilson is a two-time state champion, Jake Vitale is a four-time state medalist, Jordan Jones is a four-time qualifier and three-time state medalist, Ricardo Ramirez was a two-time state medalist. 

“I take a lot of pride in all of my guys that wrestled for me,” Adams said. “The new kids to the state champs to the kids that are wrestling in college. They all hold a special place in my heart because they’ve worked hard and put the time, sweat, tears and grind into the sport.”

Adams’ life is taking an unexpected turn now he is leaving the Mexico wrestling room. He joked his wife didn’t think he would ever retire but is glad the program is in the position it’s in now that he is stepping away. 

“I never wanted to be that coach they say he walked out or hung it up when it wasn’t good or he wasn’t in it to build it back up,” Adams said. “ I didn’t want to short change any of my athletes or coaches.”