Loder continues wrestling dominance

Despite the winter sports season being over for several months now, Granite Bay High junior Ryan Loder is still continuing in his wrestling ways.Loder, one of the top ranked wrestlers in the nation in the 171-pound class, has competed in a plethora of competitions since his sixth-place finish at the high school state championships."I was really looking to win State this year," Loder said. "I just fell apart after my loss in the semis, and next year I'm going to try and take it." Only a month later, Loder went to Virginia Beach, Va., for the National High School Coaches Association and placed second overall in the 171-pound class. He went 5-1 during the tournament, losing to Edward Ruth from Pennsylvania. Next in line for Loder was the World Wrestling Championships in Reno. Loder, once again showed why he was one of the best, going 5-0 at the tournament, placing first overall. One of the most impressive aspects of his win was the fact that he was wrestling in the 18-and-under division at the age of only 16."There were some really good wrestlers at that tournament," Loder said. "I was very happy with the win because there were a couple of state champions and I was still able to win."In his latest tournament, Loder competed in the California State Freestyle Championship. For this tournament, Loder competed in the 189-pound division, which he is no stranger to in his wrestling career. He remained focused on his goal of winning, and was able to go 8-0 in the tournament to rack up his second first-place finish of the season. This win was especially sweet due to the fact that he beat Tito Pica, the fourth-place finisher at the state championships, who happened to be Loder's last opponent, in the final. Loder not only beat Pica, he prevented him from even scoring a point throughout the entire match. In total, Loder beat three California state placers: Pica, Morgan McIntosh, who placed fifth in the 160-pound division, and Stephan Hampton, who placed third at 189 pounds."That was a tough tournament for me because they were much bigger," Loder said. "I was scared of Hampton at first because he was enormous, but I just hung in there and won."With all of this success, Loder is bound to have plenty of opportunities in the wrestling world. So far, Loder has been invited and will attend the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., from June 15-22. This trip will act as the preliminary trial for the 2012 Olympic Team. Loder will also be focusing on football, where he starts at linebacker position for the defending section champion Grizzlies."I am going to have a really busy summer this year," Loder said in a bit of an understatement.Loder's patronage to both sports has paid off big time, as he has a bright future in college. So far, Loder has contacted a multitude of schools for wrestling, including powerhouses such as Columbia, Cal Poly, Davis, Stanford and Cal State Fullerton. He has also begun to receive letters from schools about football as well, adding to his already large list of accolades."It's really crazy right now," Loder said. "I am still have no idea what I want to do with my life, so I'm just going to take it one day at a time and take the best deal."