We had twelve wrestlers compete at the Division 1 Section tournament this past weekend and they all qualified for masters! This tied a team record and we are looking forward to this weekend where our dirty dozen (thanks John) will get a chance to qualify for state by placing in the top 7 for their respective weight class. Thanks to those who came out to support our guys this past weekend. We definitely made Folsom heard in Ponderosa’s gym!
We had 13 varsity wrestlers compete at the Sierra Nevada Classic which featured 97 teams from 7 western states. We ended up right in the thick of the team race and finished in second place despite not having all of our varsity wrestlers in the lineup.
Folsom had four place-winners which was the most we have ever had. The 2nd place team finish also was the highest we have ever finished at this tough tournament.
Leading the way was Connor Pollock, who won the title at 126 lbs. in a weight class that had 81 competitors. Pollock came in seeded fourth and knocked off the #1 seed from Montana who was a returning state finalist and then went on to beat the #2 seeded wrestler from Oregon in the finals.
Heavyweight Jordan Alleva (seeded 2nd) may have also ended up in the finals, but he got sick and had to default down to 6th place after reaching the semifinals.
Nick Fiegener (145) and Tony Hernandez (132) also had great tournaments and finished 5th despite coming in unseeded.
Alex Wood dropped a controversial first round match to an eventual finalist, but then rattled off 5 straight pins before losing close in the match to place so he ended up in the top 12 at 195.
Other wrestlers who won matches and helped contribute to our second place finish included Carlos Alvarez (3-2 record at 106), Roger Berton (3-2 at 120), Isaias Diaz (2-2 at 152), Ryan Jensen (3-2 at 160), Devon Nooner (1-2 at 170) and Alex Hurlimann (2-2 at 182). Tyler Hoffman wrestled at 113 but was injured in his second match and could not continue. Kyle Parrott (138) also wrestled tough despite being up two weight classes.
HD Video and Photo Highlights here
First of all, I want to thank everyone who helped out this weekend at our tournament. I know it was a lot of work for parents, kids, coaches, and family members. The good news is all of the hard work on and off the mat paid off in a big way. We were able to capture titles at both the JV and Varsity level.
For the JV, this was the first time we were able to put together two JV teams out in our own tournament (which speaks well of our numbers this year) and they were both in the top 3. Our red team went undefeated to win the tournament. Our blue team finished third behind Vacaville. The great thing is we were able to get everyone some matches for those who were eligible to compete. Some of our JV wrestlers wrestled both days and we were able to get most of them at least a match in at the varsity level.
Our varsity team had another impressive performance as they went 5-0 to sweep through the tournament including dominant victories over Franklin in the semifinals and Vacaville in the finals. We had several wrestlers go 5-0 at the varsity level including Lorenzo De La Riva, Connor Pollock, Mason Koshiyama, Nick Fiegener, Isaias Diaz, and Alex Hurlimann. Pollock, Fiegener, and Diaz were selected to the All Tournament team.
HD Video and Photo Highlights here
We now look ahead to the plan for the rest of the break. The schedule works out well this year as Christmas and the new year both happen to fall on weekend dates. We will be having a full week of practice this week starting Monday 12/19.
Monday and Tuesday, 3:30 to 6:00 pm.
Wednesday 10:00 am practice and another at 3:30
Thursday and Friday will be at 10:00 am
All 10:00 am practices should be done close to noon.
After Friday the 23rd, the Junior Varsity will be off until Jan 2nd where we will be back to practice at 3:30 for everyone.
For the varsity, they will have a 3:30 practice on Monday the 26th. On the 27th, we will have a 10:00 am practice, then we will be leaving for Reno at 2:00 pm with another weight loss workout at 4:00 in the arena. We will compete on the 28th and 29th and then the varsity will be off until the 2nd.
On the California Wrestler website, they recently listed their preseason state rankings for individuals and teams. They had Folsom listed as the #23 ranked wrestling team in the state (all divisions) and Connor Pollock and Jordan Alleva are both ranked #6 in their weight class for all of California. This marks the first time that I am aware of that we have been ranked in the top 25 in the state as a team. All of the rest of our guys who are currently ranked in the state are also listed below.
State Rank: 23
Wrestler Rankings:
120-Connor Pollock (#6)
138-M. Koshiyama (HM)
145-N. Fiegener (HM)
152-I. Diaz (#27)
170-D. Nooner (#37)
220-T. Lewis (#32)
285-J. Alleva (#6)
Folsom had 22 athletes competing in the Kennedy JV Dual Wrestling Tournament. Folsom completely dominated the competition in winning all five of their wrestling matches and taking home the team championship wrestling trophy. The team results were as follows:
Folsom-69 Kennedy-6,Folsom-77 Vacaville Christian-0, Folsom-70 Jesuit-9, Folsom-65 Franklin-6 and in the championship match, Folsom-64 Mira Loma-18.
Folsom had nine wrestlers go undefeated at 5-0 to earn gold medals that included: Connor Friery (#113), Kevin Borgh (#120), Lorenzo De La Riva (#126), Matt Mitchell (#132), Mason Koshiyama (#152), Connor Watson (#152), Jason Mica (#160), Jerod Nooner (#195), and John May (HWT).
There were five individuals who went 4-1 to earn silver medals including: Carlos Alvarez (#106), Tito Moreno (#121), Jake Bienvenue (#170), Sam Whitney (#182), and Robbie Cunha (#220).
Two Folsom wrestlers earned bronze medals with 3-2 records including: Keen Prado (#138) and Eric Helm (#145).
We had 5 wrestlers compete at varsity level at the Vista Invitational. It was a good day as four of the five wrestlers we brought came away with a medal and two of them made the finals. Folsom was lead by Roger Berton (126) and Kyle Parrott (132) who both reached the finals before settling for second place. Berton came in seeded fourth and pinned the #1 seed Daniel Rodriguez of Vista in the semifinals. Parrott upheld his #2 seed and won by technical fall in his semifinal match. Tyler Hoffman (113) and Trever Lewis (220) both ended up placing 4th in their first tournament of the year. Kyle Prado (138) also competed and went 2-2, going out one round before the medals.
We also had three girls competing at the McNair Invitational in Stockton. McKena Rios led the way as she won the tournament for her weight class. Also competing were Rachel Glover and Ashley Blake, who were 2-2 on the day.
Overall, it has been a great start to the season with some big individual wins in our scrimmage against Del Oro and Las Lomas, the dominant 56-16 win over cross town rival Vista with our young guys stepping up, the JV winning the Kennedy tournament in impressive fashion, and our wrestlers earning medals at all three tournaments. We will be wrestling in three different locations again next Saturday. JV will be going to Clayton Valley in Concord. Our varsity will be competing at the Curt Mettler Invitational in Elk Grove, and our girls will be at the Roger Briones Invitational in San Leandro.
The mandatory parent meeting will be next Wednesday, Nov. 16th at 6:30 pm in the library at FHS. We will be introducing the coaching staff, passing out schedules, discussing fundraisers (you will get a fundraising total update), taking care of transportation fee ($125) and spirit packs ($50)-separate checks made out to Folsom High Wrestling, and talking about some of the trips we will be taking this year.
Congratulations to our four Mad Dawg wrestlers who placed at the California Freestyle/Greco Roman State Championships. Competing in the schoolboy division (7th and 8th graders) were Jason Bergquist and Jake Bienvenue who were wrestling Greco-Roman. Bergquist improved upon his 3rd place finish last year as he took 2nd place at 105 lbs. Bienvenue finished third at 160 lbs. in his first state experience.
Earning State medals in the Freestyle Cadet Division were freshmen Kyle Parrott (130) who ended up 7th and Nicholas Fiegener (145) who took 2nd. By placing in the top 3 in the Cadet Division, Fiegener has qualified for the Freestyle Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota this Summer. All four state placers have qualified for the Western Regional in Pocatello, Idaho this June.
