Leviathan Wrestlers Compete in K-5 Leauge Finals

Leviathan Wrestling Club’s youngest members took part in the Kinder-5th Grade Peninsula League Folkstyle Championships Friday, May 2 at the Red Morton Community in Redwood City. The tournament drew close to 65 participants from the length of the Peninsula, from San Francisco to Palo Alto, and each wrestler competed in age/weight pools of 4 kids each in round robin format.

Leviathan’s Brandon Bigler won his weight pool by defeating the other 3 boys in his group. His first match was against a boy from Coastside Grapplers. Bigler displayed mastery of several techniques that high school wrestlers still struggle with. He threw his opponent several times and pinned him with cradles and stacks, which require tremendous strength. At this level of competition, matches keep going after a pin so that both wrestlers get more live wrestling experience, but matches are usually stopped once a 15 point lead (tech fall) is achieved. The Coastside coaches asked that the match continue past that point, and the final score was 28-0. Bigler teched his next opponent from Redwood City’s Pride Rock. Brandon once again employed throws and earned several near fall points due to his ability to turn his opponent by going around the head with his half Nelson. The final match against a boy from East Palo Alto ended in a quick pin. Bigler’s record was 3-0.

Phoebe Grabowski drew a very difficult first match against the son of a wrestling coach from Palo Alto, who has competed extensively at a high level for many years. Although she lost the match by a wide margin, her performance improved with every round, and she was able to follow mat-side instruction from her coach, Samuel Ayala, to avoid being pinned. She internalized Ayala’s coaching about keeping her head up off the ground, and after following that one important instruction, she neutralized the ability of her opponent to stack her on her shoulders. The match lasted a full 3 rounds with Grabowski using powerful bridges and hand fighting to avoid being pinned. Phoebe’s next match was against a boy from Pride Rock, and she exploded off the whistle to take him down and pin him in just 13 seconds, finishing the night 1-1. There were only 3 wrestlers in her weight pool.

Celeste Grabowski lost her first round to a very tough male competitor from Half Moon Bay. Celeste had beaten him earlier in the season by one point, and although she fought as hard as she could, she made some technical errors. Her opponent to put her in several arm bars and turned her for near fall points. She lost the round by one point. Her next match was against another experienced boy from the Palo Alto team. With the nerves from the first match over, Celeste was able to call on her training to move quickly from T-out side position to opposite T-out side position to successfully pin her opponent with a half Nelson. The third match of the night was against a girl from Pride Rock who had beaten Grabowski by pin at the first tournament of the season. Grabowski was having none of that this time. She pounced on her opponent off the whistle and took her down with a low single shot, driving her forward while keeping a vice grip on her ankle. Grabowski pinned her opponent to finish the tournament with a record of 2-1.

All competitors received participation medals. The majority of the members of Leviathan Wrestling Club will be competing at the Middle School League Finals next week. Leviathan practices M-W-F at 3:30 at Terra Nova and is open to 5th-8th grade girls and boys. Younger students may be admitted pending evaluation by coaches. For more information about the upcoming Freestyle season, contact LeviathanWrestling@gmail.com.