Parker Sons of Thunder Wrestling

CUSAW State Championship Dominance for PSOT

PSOT fielded 25 competitors in Greco and 30 in Freestyle at the Massari Arena on the campus of CSU-Pueblo this weekend for the CO USA State Freestyle/Greco Championships.  We dominated every statistical category for teams at the tournament on both days by a wide margin!  No one else was even in the same ballpark with us at this tournament.  We had 22 placers with 9 champions in Greco and 26 placers with 11 champions in Freestyle.  Jett Strickenberger, Jackson Eller, Antonio Segura, Patrick Allis, Drew Eller, Therious Robison and Marissa Gallegos were all dual champions winning both styles during the weekend’s action.  Patrick Allis gets the suplex of the weekend award hitting a SWEEEEETTTTT 5 point throw in Freestyle!  Here’s the list of placers:

Zao Estrada – 1st Greco; 2nd Freestyle
David Estrada – 2nd Freestyle
Alexis Segura – 1st Freestyle
Andrew Kramer – 2nd Greco; 1st Freestyle
Jett Strickenberger – Champion in both styles
Angelo Lozado – 2nd Greco
Cayden Condit – 4th Greco
Jackson Eller – Champion in both styles
Victor Madrid – 2nd Freestyle
Liam Hohenstein – 4th Greco
Ivan Morris – 2nd Greco; 3rd Freestyle
Antonio Segura – Champion in both styles
Nicholas Gallegos – 2nd Greco; 2nd Freestyle
Isaias Estrada – 3rd Freestyle
Quin Samuelson – 2nd Greco; 3rd Freestyle
Patrick Allis – Champion in both styles
Kris Kramer – 2nd Greco; 3rd Freestyle
Drew Eller – Champion in both styles
Isaac Barbosa – 4th Freestyle
Parker Benekas – 2nd Greco; 1st Freestyle
Kaden Campbell – 4th Freestyle
Therious Robison – Champion in both styles
Jerzie Estrada – 2nd Greco; 3rd Freestyle
Marissa Gallegos – Champion in both styles
Mosha Schwartz – 1st Greco; 2nd Freestyle
Malik Heinselman – 2nd Greco; 1st Freestyle
Brandon Minear – 3rd Greco; 2nd Freestyle
Tate Samuelson – 3rd Greco; 3rd Freestyle
Fabian Estrada – 4th Freestyle

Kudos to Marissa Gallegos for some impressive wins in Freestyle and to Jett Strickenberger for beating some kids that he had lost to in the past few months and one kid that he’s never beat before enroute to the championship in both divisions.  Great job to our kids for enduring the inefficiently ran tournament and to our parents for sticking through it in spite of how badly it was ran this year.
At least we should have air conditioning this year at Regionals.  LOL!  (Crossing our fingers)

Now…..on to Dodge City!

2011-2012 Final WOW National Youth Folkstyle Rankings

PSOT landed 4 of our top elite team wrestlers in the final rankings for their respective age/weight divisions in the National Youth Folkstyle Rankings. This ranking system took into account many of the most highly competitive tournament’s placements to come up with the final rankings for the season. Tournaments included were Tulsa Nationals, Reno Worlds, Liberty Nationals, Tulsa Kickoff, Ohio TOC and USJOC. Jackson Eller finished tied for 5th for 8&Under 58lbs. Mosha Schwartz finished tied for 4th in the 12&Under 64lbs division. Drew Eller ended the season in 5th place for 10&Under 61lbs. And, finally, Thery Robison finished the season ranked #5 for the 12U 73lbs division. Please take the time to congratulate these young wrestlers on representing themselves and PSOT very well in the toughest tournament series in the U.S. The wrestlers ranked above them made the effort to attend at least one more of these events than our boys did which caused them to finish higher in the point totals. Great job boys!!!

PSOT AZTEC WARRIORS

PSOT had 10 kids attend the inaugural Aztec Warrior Championships in Farmington, NM on 28April2012 and we came back with a team trophy, a ton of hardware, some fun experiences, some greco and freestyle matches against other non-PSOT or Colorado kids and 6 staples in Jackson’s head! Alexis Segura and Zao Estrada could only participate in the Folkstyle and Freestyle segments of the tournament but added valuable points to our team roster especially given the fact that we had only 10 wrestlers on our roster. The other teams that attended that were in the hunt for the team trophy had a full roster of 14 wrestlers so we had a significant challenge to overcome and needed all on our roster to place high to keep us in contention.

Caden Moster and Jackson Eller both came through mightily with big scores for the team by taking 1st in all 3 styles! Caden also managed to secure the OW award for 10 & Unders as it was cumulative for this tournament and included all 3 styles in the pin count. He amassed 7 pins and 6 of them were in the 1st period enroute to this award. Outstanding work from this young man in his first year of competition in freestyle and greco! Our other wrestlers all won at least one style and took no worse than 2nd (including Drew being tripped up by some coaches in the folkstyle portion advising their kid to take a dive so he could earn an injury default win in the semifinals when he was behind 14-0 in the 3rd period and got slammed a little hard) as we compiled 370 points to win over the next closest team with 351 points and a full roster of placers. Every kid worked hard to help the team reach the goal of a team trophy as we were dominating our opponents in the international styles. The pizza pool party at the hotel Saturday night was going great until Jackson didn’t complete a backflip into the pool and clunked his head on the side! An ER visit for the Ellers and 6 staples to the cranium later and he now can embody his nickname of Frankenstein. We visited Aztec Ruins and hiked up Treasure Falls along the way back and had a very successful trip to NM for PSOT overall. Great Team effort and kudos to the Moster Monster!

USA Folkstyle Nationals Success!

PSOT Elite sent 6 kids to Cedar Falls, IA for the 2012 USA Folkstyle Nationals this past weekend and brought home 4 All-Americans and 4 Kid’s National Folkstyle Team members by the end of the action on Sunday! Theorius Robison managed his way through an extremely difficult bracket and won a tough OT match in the process to bring home 1st place in Novice Division 80lbs. Meanwhile, Drew Eller lost a 2-0 match to a top level 12U competitor from Harvey Twisters in the 2nd round of his 64 man bracket and stormed back with 8 victories (5 State Champions) including a 7-4 win in the rematch with the kid he lost to in order to get into the True 2nd match and then beat the 12U KS State Champion 5-2! Thery and Drew managed enough points with their placements to land PSOT in the 3rd spot for the team competition in the Novice Division. Tyler Johnson wrestled the tournament of his life in Schoolboy 77lbs and made it to the finals! He ended up taking true 2nd with a series of 1-2 pt matches that made the placing that much more thrilling to watch. Jackson was unseeded, as were all of our kids at this tournament, and only lost a 4 point match to a kid from IL in the quarterfinals that eventually took 2nd place so J-dog ended up in 3rd place overall. Our team was 9th overall in the team standings but only 5 points out of 2nd place overall so that was quite the accomplishment with only 4 kids placing. We were the smallest team to score that high by leaps and bounds in the entire tournament field. This was the toughest tournament of the entire season for certain and without argument per our coaching staff and parents that attended. Every bracket was loaded from top to bottom and there were a lot of amazing wrestlers that went home empty handed when it was all said and done. This was a testament to how badly that these 4 young men wanted to show their mettle and determination to succeed in this crazy tough tournament. The UNI-Dome was rocking!

IT WAS EPIC!!!!

Coach Jeff’s exact words as he was leaving the mat for Drew’s Championship bout when it was over and he was running to Ty’s corner for the 7th title match in the championship round for PSOT on Sunday night at Rocky Mountain Nationals. 6 out of 7 of the contenders closed the deal in that round with only Jayden coming up just 2 points short in a great match for him in the finals as he took 2nd. Each of those championship bouts had their own subplots and it was “epic” to watch as it unfolded. Thery goes into OT before finishing his match out 7-5. Victor beats another triple crown contender, who had beaten him soundly before last year, to earn his first triple crown title. Malik dominates his opponent to take home a golden gear and triple crown. Grant Stewartson beats a kid in his match 6-4 that he had lost to all year and had been stuck in his head. Ty takes the OW for 6U dominating his opponent in the finals and earning his first golden gear and triple crown. And, finally, Drew finished out his RMN run this year and was one of only 2 wrestlers out of the 2300 in attendance this weekend that earned all of the honors for this series this season as he brought home the triple crown, golden gear, RMN Championship Belt and the Ring of Fame. We absolutely had the strongest showing of any team in attendance as far as wrestlers in the finals and winners in those championship matches. If we hadn’t lost a few key matches in wrestlebacks and placing rounds on our team roster among those who didn’t make the finals, we would have handily won the team trophy. As it turned out, we were a strong 2nd behind Pomona at the end of the night. Overall, we had 19 placers in the open division and 5 in the rookie division from PSOT. Epic sums it up really well! Check the tournament results link for the rundown on placements from this event. Great job by the team collectively and that finals session had to be the funnest time we’ve had all year in a tournament as we witnessed PSOT going viral on nearly every mat in the arena. EPIC!!!!

Terminator World Championships 2012: Tri-State Belt Weekend

PSOT had only 3 participants make the long trip to Prescott Valley, AZ for the Terminator World Championships this season but had great success for the effort!  Parker Benekas took 3rd in an extremely difficult bracket.  Jackson Eller bumped up in weight for the first time this season in an RMN event and managed to take true 2nd losing only in the championship match in spite of being the youngest competitor in his group.  Drew Eller finished the deal in his pursuit of the Tri-State Belt this year in impressive fashion while registering 2 pins when leading by 10 points or better and 2 techfalls including the championship match 20-4 over his opponent from Las Vegas, NV.  Drew was recognized at center mat as they paused the tournament and awarded him the Tri-State Belt for this season.  He was only 1 of 2 wrestlers this season so far to have been awarded this honor.  Great job representing the team, boys!!!  Get ready for RMN’s this weekend as it’s for all the marbles.

Greater Southwest Nationals Gold for 6 PSOT Elite Members

Ty Eise led the charge into New Mexico and even at only 6 years old he was a little man on a mission and would not be denied.  Ty came away from the weekend with the TXUSAW Trinity Award for winning their 3 tournaments this season culminating with an impressive showing at GSW 2012.  5 other PSOT Team Members made the trip to NM as well and came back with successful showings.  Antonio Segura, Grant Stewartson and Mosha Schwartz all came in true 2nd and Jerzie Estrada and Conner Eise took 3rd in their brackets.  Congratulations to Ty Eise for this tremendous accomplishment in his young wrestling career.  The future is bright.  Eise, Eise baby.

2012 CO USAW Rookie and Girls State Championships

PSOT had great participation and many accomplishments out of the Rookie and Girls State Brackets at this year’s CO USAW Championships.  Placers in the Rookie Division included:

Mathias Kolding 10U 113lbs 1st Place
Marissa Gallegos 12U 106lbs 1st Place
Garrett Beam 6U 54lbs 3rd Place
Brandon Camper 12U 106lbs 3rd Place
Tristan Emery 4U 50lbs 4th Place
Liam Hohenstein 8U 62lbs 5th Place
Dominic Cordray 4U 50lbs 5th Place

Placers in the Girls Division included:

Champions:
Marianna Estrada
Natasha Gallegos
Cayden Condit
Kaden Campbell
Marissa Gallegos
2nd Placers:
Zao Estrada
Abby Benekas
Brooke Helms
3rd Placers:
Chailyn Perez
Kendall Frank

Great job from all of the young up and comers in the rookie group and our girls representing Daughters of Zion at this inaugural event.

Many successful PSOT wrestlers at CO USAW State this year!

PSOT again was short-handed with their Elite Squad when they entered the weekend at the Douglas County Event Center due to a group of athletes attending the Greater Southwest Nationals in search of TXUSAW Triple Crown Gold.  However, we did have a large amount of our kids there and most made it to at least the semifinals of their brackets.  PSOT Champions from this weekend’s State Championships were:

Jackson Eller (PSOT’s only champion in both state tourneys this season) 8U 58lbs
Drew Eller 10U 65lbs
Malik Heinselman 12U 63lbs
Tyler Johnson 15U 75lbs

Placers included:
Jett Strickenberger 8U 50lbs 2nd Place
Isaias Estrada 8u 70lbs 2nd Place
David Estrada 6U 40lbs 2nd Place
Hunter Murphy 6U 70lbs 3rd Place
Victor Madrid 8U 62lbs 3rd Place
Patrick Allis 12U 63lbs 3rd Place
Parker Benekas 12U 79lbs 3rd Place
Brandon Minear 12U 87lbs 3rd Place
Nicholas Gallegos 10U 69lbs 3rd Place
Angelo Lozado 8U 50lbs 4th Place
Tate Samuelson 12U 91lbs 4th Place
Fabian Estrada 12U 122lbs 4th Place
Quin Samuelson 8U 74lbs 5th Place
Caden Moster 10U 65lbs 5th Place
Matthew Tobey 10U 73lbs 5th Place
Zao Estrada, Zao 6U 43lbs 6th Place
Garrett Beam 6U 55lbs 6th Place
Ivan Morris 8U 66lbs 6th Place
Brett Guerrieri 15U 123lbs 6th Place
Jayden Woodruff 12U 91lbs 6th Place

With our entire club’s point totals added together with the team rosters for our open and rookie divisions, we blew away the rest of the state at this tournament. Not bad when you’re a little undermanned.

2012 CSY All-State Results

PSOT had a successful weekend at the Colorado Youth All-State Tournament but definitely not up to our normal levels for this season. It’s hard sometimes when the target seems to be always on your back at the local level, but I digress. We had 5 champions and 16 placers overall. Jett Strickenberger, Jackson Eller, Therious Robison, Isaias Estrada and Jerzie Estrada came away from the weekend winning tough matches and emerging as champions. Angelo Lozado, Victor Madrid, Hunter Murphy, Zander Condit, Malik Heinselman, Parker Benekas, Brett Guerrerri, Jayden Woodruff, Antonio Segura, Tyler Johnson and Tate Samuelson all placed in their divisions. Without 4 of our elite team wrestlers (Drew, Ty, Conner and Mosha) to bolster our team roster we still placed high in the team competition and all of our wrestlers were in 16 man or higher brackets except 2 as opposed to many of the other teams who placed in the top 5 this year. Gives us something to work on for the future but we have to exhibit a short memory as we’ll be facing another big tasks this coming weekend at the even tougher USA Wrestling sponsored CO State Championships.