Santa Rosa Junior College Wrestling team had a year to remember in more ways than one. The wine country fires dominated the midpoint of our season. The Bear Cubs were off to a good start with a 4-2 dual meet record and they had just finished in third place at the Modesto tournament. That Sunday evening, October 9th, the fires wrecked havoc in our community destroying over 5,000 homes and left 24 dead in the States most destructive wild fire in history! The campus was closed for the next two weeks as first responders battled the fires. We had no in person contact with our guys for 17 days. Some of them had to evacuate the area. Fortunately none of our guys lost their homes or worse. We had to cancel out of a couple of dual meets and the Northern California Regional Dual Meet Tournament we started 30 years ago. We came back when the campus re-opened and few days later wrestled Chabot College in a conference dual… we got killed! It was a wake up call for all of us. The guys worked hard to get back in shape with the goal of finishing the season "Sonoma County Strong". They did just that…finishing the season with a 6-3 dual meet record, Second in the Coast Conference Tournament, Fifth in the Northern California Regional and Tenth in the State Championships with three medalists and one All American.

Here's a summary of our individuals accomplishments and team awards: We had two guys earn First Team All Coast Conference… earned by winning the Coast Conference Tournament: Joel Anguiano (soph. Healdsburg HS) 18-3 with 3 pins at 157 lbs and Ian Black (frosh. Healdsburg HS) 18-11 with 13 pins at 165 lbs. The team awards voted by the guys were as follows: Our freshman MVP was Cameron Casey (Maria Carrillo HS). Cameron was 18-11 with 10 pins on the season. He was 5th at Sac City, 1st at Modesto, 2nd in the Coast Conference, 2nd in Northern California and 6th in the State Championships. Our Team co-captains and co-MVP's were Tyler Poalillo (soph. Spanish Springs HS NV) and Blake Boswell (soph. Spanish Springs HS NV). Tyler Poalillo was 20-9 with 12 pins on th season. He finished 2nd at Sac City, 23rd at West Hills, 2nd at Modesto, 2nd in the Coast Conference, 2nd in the North Regional and 6th at the State Championships with a bum knee. Blake Boswell was 17-6 with 13 pins. Blake finished 3rd at Sac City, 1st at Modesto, 2nd in the Coast Conference, 2nd in the North Regional and 2nd in the State Championships earning himself All America recognition.

I would like to give special thanks to our assistant coaches Fred Duerr, Alex Cruz and Jhaylyn Hall for the outstanding job they did this year.  In the face of significant adversity (vigilantly fighting to save their family's homes) they also stayed committed to keeping the guys focused and training to be the best they can be for the end of season tournaments. Thanks also go to the many family and friends that donated money and time to help us through the season. We could not do the job we do without you. Last but not least thank you to the administrators, instructors and staff at SRJC that help make our athletic programs at SRJC successful.