Two medals came home with Escalon wrestlers from the Sierra Nevada Classic Tournament in Reno, staged Friday and Saturday, Dec. 27 and 28.

“It was an 82-team tournament, we brought 11 wrestlers,” explained Escalon head coach Derek Scott. “We beat all the small schools there and eight of our kids made it to the last round of the first day.”

Several of those went into the medal matches, with two – Tyler Lawrence and Dominic Freeseha – picking up medals at the prestigious meet.

In the medal round but falling short were Josh Redding, who went 5-2 at 152 pounds and wrestled well, but is still getting into shape after football; and Frankie Bavaro, who went 3-2 at 160 pounds.

“After not wrestling for a couple of years, he looked real good,” Scott said.

Bavaro took an injury default in his final match, an arm injury, but Scott said it shouldn’t keep him out of action for too long.

“Daniel Gonzales made it into the second day, he lost in the round to place,” Scott said of the 195-pounder, who went 4-2 in the tournament.

Austin Martinez went 2-2 at 160 pounds, Colton Camara 2-2 at 145 and A.J. Camarena was 3-2 at 195 pounds, losing in the round to place.

At 145 pounds, Tyler Lawrence took home fifth place honors, finishing with a 6-2 mark.

“He had a real bad draw, lost 4-0 to the number six ranked wrestler in the first round on the second day,” explained Scott. “By far, he had the toughest weight class of the tournament.”

Dominic Freeseha went 6-2 at 220 pounds and pinned down fourth place honors, losing both matches by small margins. He lost to the number two ranked wrestler in California by a 5-2 decision and then took a 1-0 loss in the third/fourth place match, facing off with one of the top ranked wrestlers in Nevada.

“He just stands there and fights,” Scott noted of Freeseha.

Action this week will include Escalon hosting the Mel Focha JV Invitational Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 4 starting at 9 a.m., with more than 20 teams expected to participate.