The California Wrestling Association had it’s end of season state championship event.
California is a part of USA Wrestling. USA Wrestling (formerly known as the United States Wrestling Federation and as the United States Wrestling Association) is the organization that currently governs freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling in the United States. USA Wrestling is also the official representative to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and to United World Wrestling (UWW) and is considered the national governing body of the sport at the amateur level.
This past weekend, for the youth age groups (pre- high school), the organization had the age level freestyle state championships. For the high school age division (cadet and junior level), the Greco-Roman style state championships were held. In addition to these, the UWW age (college age athletes) also had both Freestyle and Greco-Roman state championships.
The lone representative from Tracy High School wrestler Eli Blackwell. He entered in all three events. The age-appropriate ‘junior’ (18 & under) division as well as the UWW age division (college athletes). Eli placed second in the state in all three divisions over the weekend. The state final results from the junior division was a qualifier for the national competition later this summer (July) in Fargo, ND. He had already qualified in 5 different events earlier in the year so these participation became high-level competitive practice. Top 8 receive medals, top 3 bear trophies, top 2 automatic qualify for national level competition.
This summer, he will be travelling with team California to Fargo, ND for a fourth time. This will be the first time a Tracy High wrestler has qualified more than twice for this level of competition in more than 30 years and this will be his fourth trip.
