Submitted photo – Young Taylor Bell at the recent national championships in Spokane, along with coaches Eric Barriga, left, and Cass Bell.

A busy spring for the Institute of Combat youth wrestlers continued this past weekend, when head coach Cass Bell traveled with two of his young grapplers to the state Greco Roman championships in Fresno, one week after also competing at a national championship tournament in Spokane, Wash.

12-year-old Taylor Bell and 13-year-old Annie Vasquez both traveled to Fresno to represent the IOC and competed in the 14U tournament.

The young Bell competed in the 87-pound bracket and she dominated against some of the best young boys wrestlers in the state on the way to placing second.

Vasquez competed in the 97-pound bracket and placed seventh overall, which was an impressive showing for someone who only decided to travel for the prestigious event a few days before.

“She didn’t know she was going until the last minute, and for her to go down there and test herself was amazing,” Cass Bell said.

Taylor Bell, who is the daughter of Cass and one of the top up-and-coming young wrestlers in Humboldt County, also competed at the nationals in Spokane, along with Arcata High’s Rory Bickmore, who also trains with the IOC.

The young Bell wrestled in two separate divisions, placing fourth in the 14U tournament and seventh in the 15U bracket.

Bickmore finished 1-2 in her first competition since the high school season, and, according to her coach, the experience should stand to both grapplers.

“She was super excited about the experience,” Cass Bell said of Bickmore. “She was wrestling some of the top kids from (all across the nation) and it was such a great experience for her.”

Del Norte High girls wrestling coach Eric Barriga also made the trip with the Bells and Bickmore.

Submitted photo – Del Norte’s Curtis Bartley at the recent Reno Worlds tournament.

A very busy Taylor Bell also competed at the recent Reno Worlds tournament, along with several of her IOC teammates, including her brother Kaiden Bell, Cirrus Villarruel and Del Norte High’s Curtis Bartley.

Bartley, who is one of the top wrestlers in the H-DNL right now, placed second in the 138-pound 18U tournament.

“He did great. He got a true second,” his IOC coach said. “He lost to the kid that won it by three points. He was right there.”

The young Villarruel also had a very impressive tournament and placed third in the 8U bracket.

“This kid’s amazing,” Cass Bell said. “He puts in so much work in practice and catches on quickly.”

Submitted photo – Arcata High’s Kaiden Bell competing at the recent Reno Worlds tournament.

Taylor also had another big performance on her was to placing fourth in her bracket and, according to her coach, “She wrestled really good.”

Her brother Kaiden, who is a freshman at Arcata High, placed eighth in the 15U 103-pound tournament.

“He lost his first match to the No. 1 seed and had to wrestle his butt off to come all the way back,” Cass Bell said. “He did great.”

The young IOC wrestlers will remain local this weekend when they compete at the final Redwood Empire Wrestling Association tournament of the spring at Eureka High School on Saturday.