Leviathan Wrestlers Place at Western Nationals in Pocatello

Leviathan Wrestling Club sent three athletes to compete for Team California at the Western Regional Championship in Pocatello, ID last week. This tournament is one of the largest in the US with over 1200 wrestlers representing 11 western states: Alaska, Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona, and Colorado. K-8 athletes competed in 3 styles - folkstyle, freestyle, and greco - over the course of 3 days. This year was the first time in history that girls had their own division for greco competition.

Phoebe Grabowski, competing at Novice 118+lbs, had an amazing week. After losing her first round of folkstyle by getting turned on a bad angle, she went on to take 2nd in that style, defeating competitors from Washington and Wyoming. The next day, she pinned everyone in her weight class to become the first Western Regional Girls Greco champion ever - including a pin in :29 seconds against the girl who had beaten her in folkstyle. Phoebe had entered the boys’ greco tournament as well, but when her coaches discovered that the weight bracket went up to 165lbs, they pulled her to avoid injury. Phoebe placed 5th in boys greco anyway. On the third day of competition, brackets were reassigned due to injuries in lower weight classes, and Phoebe was placed in the 118++ bracket where the heaviest girl weighed 15lbs more than she did. Undaunted, Phoebe defeated every girl in that bracket to take first in freestyle. Phoebe was awarded Outstanding Wrestler for her division.

Celeste Grabowski competed at Novice 75lbs. USA Wrestling has age groupings of 2 years for boys but 3 years for girls, and this meant that Celeste, who will be a 5th grader at Cabrillo next year, was competing against girls going into 7th grade. Celeste sailed through her first 2 matches, pinning a girl from Nevada in :21 seconds and a girl from Idaho in 1:33. She lost her final round by tech in the 3rd period to Savannah Sinclair from Washington, who went on to win the triple crown on both Novice Girls and Novice Boys. On day 2 of competition, Celeste lost her first round of greco, but fought through the consolation bracket to place 3rd, winning every round by pin. In freestyle, Celeste placed 4th after sustaining a wrist injury in the first round. Both Phoebe and Celeste were slated to represent Team California in the first Girls’ Duals at the Pocatello tournament, but the team scratched from competition after scheduling changes moved the competition to a later time that conflicted with travel arrangements for the coaches and older girls.

Caspian Grabowski competed at School Boy 175. He did not place in folkstyle or freestyle, but he placed 5th in greco. After losing his round to Larry Dunn of AZ, Caz fought back through the consolation bracket defeating a Washington wrestler by tech and a Utah wrestler by pin at :36 seconds to get into the medal rounds. Caz lost his next round to a wrestler from Alaska and then faced the boy who beat him first round in the 5th place match. Caz won the match by pin at 3:25 after executing a drop-knee sionagi. He is looking forward to wrestling for Terra Nova next season.

Leviathan wrestlers were coached by Ashlee Sherman from Oakland and former TNHS wrestler, Leo Grabowski, while competing in Idaho. Their home coaching staff includes Felipe Flores, Paul Healy, Jake Blackner, Brad Wahrlich, Natalia Ruiz, and Justin Olague. Wrestling is over for the summer, but Leviathan will begin practicing again in September on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. For more information on how to join, contact LeviathanWrestling@gmail.com.