Submitted photo – Bennett Moore and Oketoh Moorehead of the McKinleyville youth wrestling team.

By Ray Hamill — A group of youth wrestlers and a college freshman who has hit the ground running this summer feature in our weekly awards.

Last weekend, the McKinleyville youth wrestling team traveled to Fresno for the freestyle state championships, and the young grapplers represented the area well with a strong showing.

Ten of the 11 Mack wrestlers to make the trip placed in their divisions, including three who finished in the top three and took home a coveted California Bear trophy.

And that makes them our choice for Humboldt Sports Team of the Week.

Head coach Virgil Moorehead Jr. and his wrestlers have been working hard for the past eight months, and all of that paid off in the final tournament of the season.

“They’ve all been working hard since October and putting in a lot of work,” Moorehead said. “And I think this was a result of the work and energy they have put in.”

Jeremy Sanders had the best performance of the team and placed second in the 12-year-old division, while his teammates Oketoh Moorehead and Cirrus Villarruel both placed third in their divisions.

Truett Dickey, Bennett Moore, Evelyn Ramirez, Domanik Cosce, Zander Franklin, Carter Goodwin and Tanner Baxter each also placed at the prestigious tournament.

For more on their big week, see McKinleyville youth wrestlers impress at state championships …

This week’s Humboldt Sports Athlete of the Week, meanwhile, goes to Damian Casas of the Humboldt Crabs, who enjoyed an outstanding opening week to the summer season.

The Cal State Fullerton freshman has had a big impact in all three of his games so far.

Submitted photo – McKinleyville’s Jeremy Sanders

Casas, who plays center field, hit a home run in his first game of the season against the Novato Knicks on Sunday, and he followed that with a game-clinching base hit in a walk-off win over the Humboldt Eagles on Wednesday.

Check out video highlights of the game-winning hit above …

But the hard-hitting Casas, who comes from Fontana and attended Aquinas High School, wasn’t done yet.

On Friday night he capped a big opening week with another home run in a 21-2 win over the South Bay Storm.

For the week, Casas was 6-for-13 with the two home runs, a triple, five RBIs and two walks.

For more on his big week, including the game winning hit, see Crabs, Eagles serve up a thriller on great night for local baseball …

Photo by Matt Filar/Humboldt Crabs Baseball