Bulldogs gain needed experience at tough Sierra Nevada Classic

For a team with aspirations of sending a lot of wrestlers to the state tournament, competing in a tournament as big and competitive as the Sierra Nevada Classic last week in Reno was nothing but good for the Folsom High wrestling team.Folsom not only gained great experience and learned a lot at the tournament, but they also performed well - placing 23rd out of 89 teams from seven states and having three wrestlers earn medals. Eric Dowd, wrestling at 103 pounds, and Cody Wilcox at 189 both placed seventh, while Justin Bolton took eighth at 135. That's the most medallists that Folsom's had at the meet since Dominic Rucireta and Ben Guzman placed in 2004."It was a big tournament with good competition, which is important for our guys to see, so when we get to the section and state tournament, we won't be seeing the "deer in the headlights" look," Folsom Coach Mike Collier said. "All of these guys will know that they already have competed in a tournament that was larger earlier in the year. "Of course there is always room for improvement, and we were hoping to come away with higher placers and more of them, but it was still our best performance at this tournament."Wilcox, still working himself into shape after an illness, had a good tournament, losing only to the eventual champion as well as the third-place finisher. "Cody was very close to finishing in the top three," Collier said. "He only lost by one point to the third-place finisher. I think if he was at full strength, he would have finished much higher."Dowd avenged an earlier loss in the tournament by winning the seventh-place match. "We knew what the guy was going to try and do, so we had a different game plan," Collier said. "Eric stuck to it and ended up dominating him this time around and that was nice to see."Bolton lost his first match of the tournament, a match that Collier said was his worst of the season, but that didn't deter Bolton from working his way through the consolation bracket, as he won six matches in a row."It would have been really easy to just pack it in (after the first match), but Justin showed some heart and resiliency to get to the medal round," Collier said.Bolton nearly placed seventh as Wilcox and Dowd, but lost his final match in the final seconds by two points on a late takedown."I think all of our medallists could have finished higher, but each placing was impressive for a different reason," Collier said.Making it to the second day of the tournament were Matt Rucireta (125), Ben Langill (130) and Hunter Worsham (160). Langill ended up one match shy of the medal rounds. Folsom's next competition is at the Mat Classic in Livermore on Saturday.