With the JV team heading one way and the varsity boys and girls going another, it was a busy weekend of wrestling for the Cougars.

Members of the JV team went to Calaveras, with 12 attending and 11 out of the 12 coming home with medals. That included three champions and one runner-up, said head coach Derek Scott.

Aidan Krieger took second place honors at 126 pounds, losing in the finals to his teammate Miguel Souza, who was the champion at that weight. Dylan Parks, in his first high school action, claimed first place honors at 182 pounds and Sean Vassallo, at heavyweight, crafted his first tournament championship as well.

Escalon’s Lady Cougars went to the McNair Tournament, where both grapplers came home with some hardware.

“Julia Casillas looked good, she went 3-1 at 126 pounds and took second place,” said Scott. “Going 4-0 at 116 pounds, with four pins, Mikayla Vega took first place.”

The varsity boys also traveled to the McNair Tournament.

“It was a 16-team tournament, a good mix of teams and school sizes,” Scott noted. “We had 16 kids wrestle.”

Of those 16, there were 11 Cougars that finished with medals, including a pair of sixth place finishers, three fourth place, three in third place, one second place finisher and two Cougars bringing home championship honors.

In sixth place, Donnie Smith went 3-2 at 182 pounds and had some solid matches. Miguel Granillo went 2-2 at 220 pounds for sixth place and his first varsity medal.

Brad Hagglund, 2-2, 152 and David Ryan, 2-2, 160, both took fourth place honors, as did Jake Lawrence.

“He hadn’t wrestled in two years, coming back from injury and we were most encouraged with him, he was competitive,” Scott said of Lawrence.

Lawrence wrestled at 195 pounds, going 3-2 for his fourth place finish.

Taking down third place honors were Stephen Mendez, 3-1, 195 pounds; freshman Luke Anderson, 4-1, 182; and Gino Stern at 106 pounds.

“Livius Seung went 3-1 at 138 pounds and lost by one point in the finals to take second place,” Scott explained.

Champions for Escalon included Braiden Vega, going 3-0 at 106 pounds and Alex Jimenez, going 4-0 in the 132-pound bracket.

This weekend, the JV boys go to Beyer, the girls to Livingston and the varsity boys head to Elk Grove.