The El Molino Wildcats club wrestling team opened the tournament season in impressive fashion on March 24 in a meet hosted by Healdsburg, with several athletes earning individual medals.
Led by coach Ron Wright and assisted by son Josh Wright, El Molino alum, the Wildcats are a USA Wrestling club team open to boys and girls from ages 5-50. The team practices Mondays and Wednesdays from 6 to 7 p.m. and will participate in several local tournaments this spring.
“We introduce people to wrestling and help keep experienced wrestlers active during the off season,” head coach Ron Wright said.
Saturday’s season-opening event, a Coastal Mountain Wrestling Association sanctioned tournament hosted by the Healdsburg Wrestling Club, featured competition in both freestyle and folkstyle. Age divisions included pee wee (6 and under), bantam (7-8), Intermediate (9-10), novice (11-12), schoolboy (13-14), cadet (15-16), junior (17-18) and open (out of high school).
Competing for the Wildcats in the schoolboy division were Curby Dimond and Jonathan Wheeler, who squared off against seventh and eighth grade kids. Dimond took home a second place medal in freestyle in his first-ever competition while Wheeler wrestled well before dropping out after breaking a bracket in his braces.
Competing in the cadet division (mostly high school underclassmen) were El Molino sophomores Coleman Hayes and Nate Wheeler, who each captured first place in both freestyle and folkstyle. In addition, El Mo freshman Erik Dimond took first place in freestyle and folkstyle while Lion’s freshman Hannah Ricioli took third place in both categories competing in the boy’s bracket.
Capping off the day were a pair of first place medals won by coach Josh Wright in both styles in the open division, which had wrestlers ranging in age from 20-50.
Also competing on Saturday was Analy junior Jimmy Carreras, who took home a third place medal in freestyle.
