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North’s Coby Merrill is the Wrestler of the Year – San Bernardino Sun

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Coby Merrill ended the season on the top step of a podium. For the distance he put between himself and the other heavyweight wrestlers in California, it might as well have been a mountaintop.

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North High’s Hulk is junior heavyweight Coby Merrill, who has been chosen the IE Varsity Boys Wrestler of the Year in Riverside on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. Weighing near 285 pound Merrill went unbeaten this season and won his first CIF State Heavy Weight title. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

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Neither double knee surgery nor any opponent on the mat was able to slow down the march to a state title for North High School’s Merrill. Winning all 48 matches, including 44 by pin, Merrill finished his junior year as state champion after runner-up finishes in his first two high school seasons.

Merrill, the top-ranked heavyweight in the nation, has been selected the IE Varsity Boys Wrestler of the Year.

“It’s nice to finally check that off the list,” Merrill said of the state title.

The implication is that there are larger worlds to conquer, starting later this year. Merrill has designs on making the USA national junior team, competing for a world title in Bulgaria and, down the road, claiming titles at the college and international senior level.

None of that would surprise North coach Harlan Kistler II.

Kistler began working with Merrill years before Merrill reached middle school. It didn’t take long before Kistler had a glimpse of the future.

Training with Kistler’s college buddies, Merrill soon was beating 125 pounders, then 141 pounders, then 149 pounders.

“I knew he was special,” Kistler said. “A once in a lifetime athlete. The way he makes adjustments, how quickly he gets it, and just how much he loves wrestling.”

By the time Merrill reached that top podium step, his love for the sport would be tested. Leaving Riverside to join the powerhouse program at Gilroy High School, Merrill found immediate success, but a frustrating finish. He lost the 195-pound state final in a sudden-victory tiebreaker.

Returning to Riverside for his sophomore season at North, it was more of the same, only with a more agonizing finish. This time, it was a double-overtime loss in the 215-pound final and, worse, a major injury.

Merrill tore the meniscus in both knees, requiring double surgery. The injury is recoverable for an athlete, but it requires plenty of work – and patience.

Unable to train for months, Merrill focused on weightlifting and making the final move from 215 to heavyweight.

“He wanted to just get big,” Kistler said. “They (Merrill and his father, Stephen) decided, ‘Let’s add some good mass and focus on enjoying wrestling without worrying about the scale.”

No one asks for the kind of injury Merrill suffered, but in retrospect, he said it wasn’t all negative.

“Actually, I think it could have been a blessing in disguise,” he said. “It made me want it more. I couldn’t wait to put those wrestling shoes on again, to work on executing my shots, to drill again. I missed all that stuff.”

Merrill and Kistler said both were confident Merrill would return to the elite level he had occupied before the injury. It didn’t take long for them to be proven right.

In November, Merrill placed fourth at the prestigious Bill Farrell Memorial International in New York, grappling against college athletes competing for an invitation to the Olympic Trials. Merrill missed that invitation by one spot.

Two months later at the Five Counties Invitational, Merrill pinned St. John Bosco’s Nicholas Sahakian, then ranked first in the nation.

All of those things are, as Merrill said, items checked off the list. And, while he is looking for a repeat as a senior, he is also looking beyond. He is in the process of looking at college options.

Merrill said one of his priorities is finding a program with the best group of upper-weight wrestlers to train with. His experience as a young wrestler training with wrestlers almost 10 years his senior taught him that’s how he can improve, with his eye on the ultimate prize of an Olympic gold medal.

He also is looking for a school with a strong pre-med program. Another lesson learned, from his injuries, is what he wants to do post-wrestling.

“To go through that and see other people go through it is pretty harsh,” he said. “If someone has a knee issue or a hip issue, that’s something I could help them with down the line.”

— MATT JOCKS

IE VARSITY COACH OF THE YEAR

Aaron Cross, Centennial

Cross guided the program to its most successful season in more than a decade. The Huskies went unbeaten in Big VIII League duals, winning those matches by an average of 27.4 points. It was the program’s first league title since 2021. Centennial reached the finals of the CIF Southern Section’s Division 2 championships, the program’s first appearance in a dual-meet final since 2012. The Huskies also claimed the team title at the CIF Southern Section’s Southern Division individual championships, the program’s second title in four seasons in that format. Centennial had six league champions and 10 wrestlers qualify for the Masters Meet.

— ERIC-PAUL JOHNSON



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