Youth Wrestling: Wildcats underway on 2007 season

The Douglas Wildcat youth wrestling season got underway in the first week of January.

Through the first three tournaments, the Wildcats have focused on gaining mat time and tournament experience.

In the rookie division (4-5 years), Torin Smokey brought home a silver medal at Dayton. Shane Trivitt wrestled well at Carson and placed fourth.

Newcomers in the bantam division (6-7), Willard Franklin, Chase Lynch, Jose Vargas, Dale McDonald and Joseph Harris have been solid, showing tremendous effort and determination thus far.

Tahoma Smokey took second at Dayton.

Entering their fourth year as Wildcats, Blake Murray and Bryce Capra have wrestled tough as Murray has taken first twice and second once.

Capra has taken a first, a second and a third.

The Wilcats have all first-year wrestlers in the midget division (8-9). Jared Buchanan and Kavin Jameson have shown steady improvement en route to earning their first match wins. Austin Fitzgerald also competed in this division for Douglas.

Novice division (10-11) wrestlers Ariel Gutierrez and Brian Hearold have developed a growing rivalry, having swapped second-place finishes in the last two weeks.

First-year wrestler Jessie Urteaga earned his first match victory last week at Fernley.

In the schoolboy division (12-13), both Jorge Gutierrez and Zach Falanga have had gold medal performances. Robert Franklin has shown improvement and placed second on two occasions and Robert Grant has competed in the division and has become a valuable asset in the practice gym helping with the younger wrestlers.

Douglas' only cadet division (14-15) wrestler, Michael Sepulveda, has been impressive. His only loss has been to Carson's Ricky McDonald.

Sign-ups for Douglas youth wrestling are ongoing. For more information, contact Jon Murray at 691-1454 or John Grant at 782-5618.