Congratulations to Nick Fiegener who made the Cadet Greco-Roman National finals!  Fiegener lost a close match in the finals but this was the second year in a row a Folsom High Wrestler made the national championship finals as Tianna Camous accomplished the same feat in the girl’s freestyle finals last summer.  Fiegener is now a 3X All-American going into his Junior year.

We traveled down to Bakersfield this past weekend to wrap up the high school season at the CIF State Championships, and had another great weekend.  We finished in the top 20 (19th) for all of California for the first time ever.  The wrestling state meet has all divisions together, unlike other sports that may have different divisions for the state championships.  There are over 800 schools in California with wrestling programs, which puts us in the top 2% of all programs in the state!

We took a school record six state qualifiers, and leading the way was Connor Pollock who finished 6th in the state at 126 lbs.  Pollock became Folsom’s 6th state placer since the tournament started in 1972.  He is also the 4th state medalist in the last 7 years for the bulldogs, joining Todd Wilcox (2006), Cody Wilcox (2007), and Jordan Hart (2009) who were all 5th at the state meet.  By placing in the top 8, Pollock has qualified for the senior nationals held in Virginia at the end of this month.  If he is able to place in the top 8 in the country, he will finish his career as a high school all-american.

Also reaching the second day of state were Nick Fiegener (145) and Jordan Alleva (285).  Both reached the top 12 and ended up one match away from the medals.  Alleva beat one of the state placers earlier in the tournament proving on any given day he could have been on the medal stand.  Fiegener went farther at state than any other Sophomore we have had competing and will have a great shot at becoming a two time state placer.

Another pair of seniors wrestling their last matches in Bakersfield were Isaias Diaz (152) and Alex Wood (195).  Both won matches at state and earned pins along the way to help contribute to our top 20 CA team finish.  Devon Nooner (160) dropped two close decisions, but he will be back next year looking to get on the medal stand.

Masters was a great tournament overall for our program as we tied a school record with 6 state qualifiers this year.  Congrats to Connor Pollock, Nick Fiegener, Isaias Diaz, Devon Nooner, Jordan Alleva and Alex Wood.

We also finished third at the Sac-Joaquin Masters which is our highest ever finish.  We had four other wrestlers who helped contribute to our team score and third place finish by winning matches.  Those included Carlos Alvarez, Tony Hernandez, Mason Koshiyama, and Alex Hurlimann.  Tyler Hoffman also got invaluable Masters level experience as a sophomore, and Trever Lewis qualified for Masters but could not compete due to a knee injury suffered last week.

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!

After another great season of wrestling Folsom was able to capture the Delta River League wrestling Championship title once again!

Many thanks to our hard working wrestlers, coaches and all for the support from familes and fans.

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

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.