The Escalon Wrestling Club, EWC, hosted its largest ever SCWAY tournament on Sunday, Jan. 8 with nearly 400 grapplers wrestling on eight mats. Of the 58 wrestlers representing the EWC, an impressive 40 of them brought home hardware with 12 champions, 13 runners-up, and 15 third place finishers.
“I have to give my sincere gratitude to all of the hard work that our wrestling family put in to make this tournament a huge success. We had the highest participation rate in terms of the Club kids and overall attendance,” said EWC President Derek Scott. “It takes dozens of volunteers literally hundreds of hours to put this thing on, let alone to make it a success. While there are too many people to thank individually, I want to mention Tracey Miller and Brianne Cerasi for all they do not only at the tournament but throughout the year also and I can’t say enough about how much they do.”
Scott offered kudos for the coaching staff and their families for being instrumental as well.
“Deeda and Jeff Williams have run the snack bar and all that it entails tirelessly for the last several years and I can’t say enough about how much they do,” added Scott.
He also noted the many parent volunteers who worked tables, helped cook, and otherwise helped the tournament operate as well as his EHS wrestlers who served as referees and table help.
“The wrestlers themselves deserve the biggest thanks for being tough enough to come to practice and go out and compete at a high level, especially after the holidays,” Scott pointed out. “Wrestling is unlike any other sport and these kids work their butts off.”
EWC medal winners included:
Champions – Samuel Hinojosa, JW Mills, EJ Lewis, Thomas Rowe, Noah Dooley, Luca Cerasi, Xander Birakos, Caleb Boatman, Ryker Lial, Jamin Miller, Jimmy Auble, Gideon Gerber.
Silver – Alex Gutierrez, Logan Dooley, Nicholas Franzia, Luke Anderson, Talan Reider, John Paul Lial, Tyler Powell, Andy Sifuentes, Luke Bates, Ryan Lewis, Preston Berhorst, Luis Garcia, Anthony Jones.
Bronze – Giovanni Ruiz, Logan Anderson, Matthew Freeseha, Frankie Rodriguez, Donovan Martinez, Hayden Castro, Griffin Gerber, Freddy Velasco, Malachi Coble, Ethan Tellez, Niko Birakos, Vincent Reis, Hayden McPherson, Garrison Gerber, Gavin Phillips.
Next up for the EWC is a SCWAY tournament at Linden High School on Sunday, Jan. 15.
