Bulldogs compete at state wrestling tournament

A group of 14 wrestlers representing the Mad Dawg Wrestling Club went down to Fresno a couple of weekends ago to compete in the State Championships at Selland Arena in Fresno and came back with some good results. For the high school wrestlers, they were competing in Greco-Roman, while the middle school and younger wrestlers were competing in freestyle. Out of the 14 wrestlers, nine came back as state placers by finishing in the top-eight. If a wrestler finished between fourth and eighth place, they earned a state medal, while those able to finish in the top-three for their respective weight class came back with a California bear trophy. Mad Dawg had five wrestlers finish in the top-three to earn a bear trophy and two of those wrestlers reached the state finals. Lucas Collier (80-pound schoolboy division) and Lucas Pedrosian (59-pound intermediate division) both finished in the top-two in the state for their respective divisions. Collier had a pair of pins to reach the finals before dropping his last match to a tough wrestler from Fresno by a 6-5 score. Pedrosian opened with a technical fall and won a close 12-10 match in the semifinals before dropping a match to the eventual champion in the finals. Collier got his second state placing of the season as he was fourth in folkstyle state a couple of months ago. This was Pedrosian's first time placing in a CA USA Wrestling state tournament. Three other wrestlers took third place to garner a bear trophy, all in the Novice Division for fifth and sixth graders. Those included Kai Lim (87-pound novice girls), Elle Collier (75-pound novice girls), and Ali Murtazaiev (86-pound novice boys). For both Lim and Murtazaiev, it was their second bear trophy this season, as they also placed in the top-three at folkstyle state a few months ago. Mad Dawg had four other placers finish in the top-eight to earn a state medal. All of the other four finished in fifth place, including Adam Akhmedov (67-pound novice), Clay Collier (85-pound bantam), Leni Garcia (130-pound schoolgirl), and former Folsom High and current Sacramento City College wrestler Ken Fernandez (61 KG open division). It was Clay Collier's second state placing of the season, as he finished third at folkstyle state, and it was Garcia's third state placing of the season, as she was seventh at Folkstyle state and second at Greco-Roman state earlier in the year. * The Mad Dawg Wrestling Club continues to practice and just started their summer session. Practices are Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Folsom High Wrestling room and the beginner/younger session goes from 5-6 p.m. and the older/advanced group practices from 6-7:30 p.m. It is not too late to sign up, and you can get more information at www.maddawgwrestling.com. Folsom High will also be hosting two wrestling camps this month. On June 12-14, Folsom High will host three highly accomplished wrestlers, including NCAA champions Mark Munoz and Sergio Vega from Oklahoma State, and Olympic Champion Brandon Slay. Then on June 18-19, Folsom High/Mad Dawg will host a technique/dual camp with instruction and dual meets against teams from all over northern California and Nevada.