Eight Valley Christian Varsity wrestlers competed this weekend in what may be considered the “Toughest One Day Tournament in the State”. They wrestled in the Clayton Valley Invitational in Concord, California. It featured 30 high quality high schools; some with state champions, Reno TOC champions and National placers. It was exactly where our coaches said we needed to be at this point in the season. Our coaches say “if you want to beat the best you first need to compete with them”. Here we will be exposed to the best mostly from the North Section and North Coast Section. Here we will quickly learn what we are doing well and what we still need to work on.

Our wrestlers averaging 16 years in age lived up to this challenge by placing 4 out of 8 wrestlers at this event. Valley also placed 11th overall. This was impressive considering a full Varsity wrestling squad consists of 14 different weight classes. Thus our numbers were small, but our results were big. Way to go Valley Christian Wrestlers!

(Photos below)

Adam Crawley (135 lbs) – Adam easily defeated his first opponent. However Adam possibly sustained a broken nose during his second match. As a precautionary measure he elected not to compete any further.

Christopher Van Elderen (140 lbs) – Chris impressively dominated his first opponent by continually taking him down and then releasing him.

Michael Sherwood (189 lbs) – Michael whom normally wrestles for the JV team stepped up this weekend to compete at the Varsity level. Michael struggled with his first opponent but wrestled very competitively against his second opponent.

Charlie Galaviz (160 lbs) – Charlie pinned his first opponent from Reno in the 3rd period. However, later in a very controversial decision, he lost an overtime match to a wrestler who went on to place 3rd in the tournament.

Mafoe James (171 lbs) – Mafoe bullied his way through his early matches. This was certainly his best performance to date. He placed 6th in his weight class.

Peipe James ( 189 lbs) – Peipe was seeded 6th overall in his weight class going into this event. However Peipe exceeded everyone’s expectations by bumping the number 3 seed in the semi’s. Peipe finished strong and recieved a 3rd place medal.

Ryan Gardner (215 lbs) – Ryan was last weeks Cupertino Memorial Classic champion. This week, he almost repeated that feat but just fell short of winning to a state champion and Reno TOC & National placer.

Chris Tozier (Hwt) – Chris our youngest, biggest and newest varsity wrestler had another big day. He wrestled his way into the semi’s and again placed 4th against like size mammoth opponents.