At Mesa's Red Mountain High, coaches adapt as athletes play multiple sports

The three-sport athlete is alive and well and residing at Mesa Red Mountain High School.

Those athletes are rare in the big-school ranks during an age of specialization. But, through sacrifice and patience, it's working at Red Mountain, where more than a a few football players also participate in winter and spring sports.

"We have impact guys," football coach Kyle Enders said.

Especially Champ Gennicks, Chris Castaneda and Bjorn Molenaar. They are among three starting football players who impact winter and spring sports teams. Gennicks and Castaneda are standout wrestlers. Molenaar starts on the basketball team, one of five football players contributing on the varsity basketball team this year.

Gennicks, who wrestles at 215 pounds, also has a chance to set the school record in the discus this spring on track and field.

"It means a lot to me since most my life I was a one-trick pony with football," said Gennicks, who made The Arizona Republic's All-Arizona team at linebacker. "But, freshman year, I joined wrestling and track and learned I could compete in those too and I loved it."

Red Mountain's football team made a run to the 6A state football championship game this fall, a run nobody saw coming after the Lions ended the regular season on a five-game losing streak.

Basketball coach Chris Lemon was happy for the football team, but he knew it would take a month for anyone on the football team to round into basketball shape. Now that the calendar year has flipped, this is like a second Red Mountain basketball season.

"You want to root for them (in football) and do well but at the same time you want to get started with your season," said Lemon, whose team is 8-8. "All of them have started so far since they've been back.

"Every sport has injuries. But you battle sickness that comes with winter sports. You wait for football. It's been that way every year. We start a season then we start a whole different season the back end of December."

Point guard Anthony Gamba, shooting guards Bryce Bigler and Conor Doka and the two bigs, Molenaar and Jaxon Griffin start on the basketball and started for Kyle Enders in his team's run to the championship game.

Most small high schools have athletes playing several sports out of necessity due to smaller enrollments. An injury or two can have a bigger impact on a small-school team that lacks depth.

Wrestling coach Spencer Jackson said sharing athletes is important at Red Mountain, one of the state's largest schools.

"Coach Enders encourages his football players to cross train and do other sports in the off-season," Jackson said. "Sometimes athletes get in their head that they are a one-sport specialist, and the truth is it benefits them to try new things and be well-rounded.

"I have had to wait for my football players to get back in the lineup because of their amazing run to the 6A Conference title game. It wasn’t ideal but I’m happy for them and to have guys like Champ back on the mat. Looking forward to a great second half of the wrestling season. "

Castaneda, a senior, who wrestles at 160 pounds, plays catcher on the baseball team in the spring.

"My sophomore year, I wanted to focus more on wrestling," Castaneda said. "But I've been doing this my whole life. Why stop now? I think it was one of the best decisions for me. I've made memories that I'll never forget with these groups. I'm happy I did."

Enders said the athletes competing in different sport has broadened support for different teams.

"I think the coaches that we have on our campus puts the kids first," Enders said. "It's not much about my program, but what is best for these kids. It shows in our school, how connected we are. We all go to our games, because they're the same kids.

"It's easy for our football kids to go to basketball games, because at any time, there are five football players on the court. We look forward to going to wrestling matches with our football kids. It creates a great environment on campus. It's almost a small-school feel for a school that has 3,500 kids."

Lemon said he has a good relationship with Enders. But he knows it's a grind for these athletes.

"It's no stopping for them," Lemon said. "It's tough."

Lemon has to make delicate decisions to start a season, because basketball is a sport where players can be cut. He has to figure out how many players to keep, knowing he's waiting for football players to come out. What if they don't come out?

"If we cut a kid in November, are we going to go back to him in December and say, 'Hey, can you come out?' " Lemon said. "That's the hard part."

Red Mountain Athletic Director Jason Grantham says it's imperative for coaches to have a positive relationship with each other, all pulling in the same direction.

"I've been around programs where coaches say, 'Go play another sport; but I need you out here training with me, as well,' " Grantham said. "It puts student-athletes in a tough spot trying to please everyone.

"Fortunately, we have coaches pulling in the same direction, doing what's best for kids and the students see that. They trust their coach when he says 'You should wrestle or you should play football.' The respect our coaches have for each other and the trust that they will do what's in the best interest of the student-athletes they are sharing is the  number one reason we are able to make this work."

Red Mountain lost four of its last five basketball games in December. They had no games this past week so Lemon could work the football players more in practice to get them ready for the season's second half, which starts Tuesday at defending 6A champion Highland.

"Keep the peace," Lemon said.

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert atrichard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@azc_obert

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Three-sport athletes are not rare at Mesa Red Mountain