Submitted photo – The Del Norte boys placed 13th out of 85 teams at the weekend Tim Brown Memorial tournament in Sacramento.
It was another busy few days for the Del Norte Warriors on the wrestling mats, as the defending H-DNL champs continue to build momentum.
Over the weekend, the Warriors competed in a pair of different tournaments, with some of their top wrestlers traveling to Sacramento for the Tim Brown Memorial tournament and several others traveling to Eureka for the North Coast Classic.
“We have a few things to clean up going into league but I am happy with where we are at,” Del Norte head coach Clinton Schaad said.
The Tim Brown Memorial is considered one of the top annual high school tournaments in the state and the Del Norte boys placed 13th out of 86 teams with some outstanding individual performances.
Including the team’s two defending North Coast Section champions, seniors Colton Schaad and Curtis Bartley, who continue to set the standard for the league wrestlers and each of whom placed second in their weight classes.
Bartley finished 5-1 in tournament action, while Schaad went 4-1.
Just seven Warriors traveled for the tournament — which makes their 13th place finish even more impressive — and six of them posted winning records.
In addition to Colton Schaad and Bartley, freshman Chey Gensaw also continued to impress in his first year competing at the high school level and finished 4-2.
His older brother James Gensaw Jr., who will wrestle at Cal Poly Humboldt next year, also impressed and finished 3-2, as did Remington Escobedo and Braydon Johnson.
Alex Osborne rounded out the Del Norte contingent and finished 2-2 in tournament action.
“Tim Brown, is regarded as one the toughest tournaments in the state with 86 individual teams competing from all over California, as well as Oregon and Nevada,” Clinton Schaad said. “Going 2-2 or better at this tournament is considered a success.”
Submitted photo – Del Norte senior Colton Schaad with his Army Reserve National Scholar Athlete award, alongside father and coach Clinton Schaad.
That level of competition should benefit the Warriors as they get set for the business end of the season.
“With only having seven of the 14 eligible starters I am very proud of how the boys did,” the head coach added.
And that wasn’t all for the Warriors.
For the second straight year, Colton Schaad took home the tournament’s prestigious Army Reserve National Scholar Athlete award.
The award, which is decided on by a committee, went to just seven out of more than 850 eligible wrestlers.
“Colton has been honored by this award on two different occasions,” the Del Norte coach said. “I am extremely proud of him as both his coach and his father.”
Several other Del Norte wrestlers also traveled to compete at the weekend North Coast Classic at Eureka High, including some varsity and JV boys and five Del Norte girls.
Karlye Dodson led the way for the Del Norte girls and placed first in her weight class, while Aubry Dodson finished second.
Also impressing for the Warriors, Galilea Garcia placed third, Elli Brow finished fourth and Elizabeth Hernandez was fifth.
“Overall I am very happy with how our Lady Warriors competed,” Clinton Schaad said.
CJ Norris, Davion Johnson and Aaron Burger all placed third for the Del Norte boys in their brackets, while Dane Brown finished fourth and Blake Owen and Yatish Patel each finished sixth.
Closer to home, the Warriors hosted Eureka in a league dual meet on Tuesday night to cap a busy few days for the program.
The Warriors won both the girls and boys team matchups, with the girls prevailing 42-12 and the boys winning 69-6.
Carl Turner (forfeit at 113 pounds), Osborne (pin at 120), Norris (pin at 126), James Gensaw Jr (technical fall at 132), Gustavo Ochoa (pin at 138), Bartley (pin at 144), Ben Wieland (pin at 150), Escobedo (major decision at 157), Owen (forfeit at 165), Colton Schaad (pin at 175), Johnson (pin at 190) and Burger (pin at 215) all won for the Del Norte boys.
Knolin Callender got Eureka’s only win of the night at 285, pinning Ricardo Borges.
Allie Bartley (forfeit), Garcia (pin), Karlyle Dodson (forfeit), Brow (forfeit), Aubry Dodson (forfeit), Bailey Fox (forfeit) and Hernandez (forfeit) all won for the Del Norte girls.
Anysi Her and Sydney Boone both win their matches for Eureka.
