April 2008

Dear CHS Wrestling Alumni, Family and Friends,

            Welcome to the fifth edition of our Calaveras High School Wrestling Alumni Newsletter. The regular season has come to an end and we wanted to update you on how the year progressed.

            Once again, the Calaveras Wrestling Team had a banner year. For the second year in a row, we ended the season with 41 wrestlers. The JV team finished the year undefeated with an 8-0 record defeating Sonora and Tokay in the preseason and demolishing BH 51-21 for the Mother Lode League Championship. This is our fourth JV MLL Crown in a row and eighth in the last nine years.

            The Varsity team finished 12-3 overall and 6-0 in league. In the preseason the varsity also defeated Sonora and Tokay. On Jan. 31, we beat BH 44-31 in the Mike Flock Gym for the MLL Dual Meet Championship. The following week we traveled to BH for the MLL Tournament. In dominant fashion, with ten wrestlers in the finals and six champions, we finished first with a 58 point margin. I love winning in that gym! Thirteen CHS wrestlers qualified for the Division 5 Sectional Tournament where we continued wrestling well with a strong second place finish behind our 3 champions, Senior Brian Rutledge-119, Sophomore Tyler Brown- 145, and Senior Joey Gellerman-215. Eight wrestlers qualified for the Masters Tournament, where Joey Gellerman placed 8^th and Brian Rutledge was second, qualifying him for the state tournament in Bakersfield. At the state tournament, Brian lost his first match to the eventual second place finisher, but came roaring back in the consolation bracket winning four matches in a row to place 8^th. This qualified Brian for the Senior National Wrestling Tournament in Virginia Beach, VA. With the help of our generous alumni and community sponsors, we were able to raise enough funds to send Coach Bicocca, Coach Bowe, Brian and his father back to the national tournament. Brian did not place, but it was a great experience for all of us. Enclosed you will find a note from Brian describing his wrestling experiences this year.            

            Be sure to visit our wrestling website at CalaverasHighSchool.com for current team information, alumni news, past records, state qualifiers, hall of fame galleries, and much more.

            This year with the help of our sponsors listed on the back of this page, we were able to purchase a new mat, recondition an older mat and help send Brian to the Nationals. Thank you for your support!      

Have a great summer, and we’ll be in contact in the fall.

Sincerely,

Vince Bicocca, Mark Bowe, Doug Clark, Ryan Upchurch

Calaveras High School Wrestling Coaches