The decorated wrestling team went on a road trip and took on competitors at their Reno tournament on Dec. 18.  Poway placed first in the tournament, 145 pound wrestler Noah Tolentino ranks 12th in the country, 132 pound wrestler Brock Bobzien ranks 8th in state, and Johnny Lopez ranks 7th in state in the 138 pound weight class.

   Coach John Meyers is proud that the tournament’s turnout for Poway went well, they earned first with 288 points, and had 9 all Americans.

   “The Reno Tournament of Champions is important to our program because I’m able to take a varsity A and B, and it allows me to see the talent of the newer freshmen that are trying to break that lineup,” Coach John Meyers said.

   The wrestling team’s rankings have also been going up ever since their season started, and the talent that pushes their rank up consists of many different age groups.

   “Each Monday, rankers take the previous week’s results and go off that, at the beginning of the season we started at 19th, and we’re currently 9th nationally, and 2nd in state as of this week,” Coach Meyers said.

   Coach Meyers is also happy with the way the wrestling team’s age is composed.

   “The team has a great mix of veterans as well as new freshmen.  The season is going fantastic, and we have a duel against the 4th ranked school in the country, Buchanan,” Coach Meyers said.

   Senior Noah Tolentino placed first in his weight class at the  Reno tournament. He has been wrestling for seven years for Poway, since the Poway Slammers, the youth wrestling team. As of Jan. 12 he ranked twelfth in the country, and first in state for the 145-pound weight class. 

   One of my favorite things about going to Reno is showing the work we’ve put in, and creating memories with my brothers,” Tolentino said.  

   “The Reno tournament went well for Poway, we had multiple All Americans and had beaten three teams ranked within the top 25 in the country.  Me and my teammate Brock Bobzien were the only ones from Poway to win the whole tournament,” Tolentino said.

   Bobzien was happy they won the tournament because it was the last time he would be wrestling with Poway in Reno, Bobzien is taking his talent to the next level and plans to wrestle at the University of Wisconsin.

   “I was glad with the way we all performed because it really showed all of our hard work paying off as a team, and it got us up to be the second ranked wrestling school in all of California,” Bobzien said.

   Junior Luke Condon started wrestling for the Poway Slammers when he was five years old. Since then he has wrestled for a total of nine years. He wrestles in the 170 pound weight class this year. Condon also saw Reno as an opportunity to show his improvement and dedication to wrestling.

   “At the beginning of the year, I wrestled at a tournament in Vegas, but it didn’t turn out the way I had wanted it to. Following the Vegas tournament, I continued to better my wrestling, and put in the work to improve. The results showed though, I took third at the Reno Tournament of Champions,” Condon said.

   Senior Johnny Lopez has been wrestling for twelve years, eight for Poway, and has also wrestled for the Poway Slammers. He wrestles in the 141-pound weight class. Lopez likes going to Reno because he’s able to create memories with his teammates.

   “I got third at the Reno Tournament of Champions, but besides wrestling there my favorite thing is hearing my teammates cheering me on whenever I’m on the mat,” Lopez said.

   CIF for the wrestling team starts next weekend, and state follows two weeks after.