2024-2025 Varsity Results​
State Championships Championships
This year we qualified 2 boys to the state championships, which is really, really good. We haven't had a boy make the state championships since 2022. Outside of 2020 (when we qualified 5 boys and 3 girls), we had qualified 1 boy per year going back to 2014. Between 2014 - 2019, the best any of those boys did was go 1-2 at state. 2020 was an amazing season, and then all of wrestling was canceled in 2021 in California. When we started back up in 2022, we only had a handful of wrestlers return on the boys team, and 1 returning varsity wrestler (Elijah Shaw, who made it to state that year). Also in 2022, Carnegie had 1 wrestler on their team with any wrestling experience at all. The kids club had a handful of returners, but we basically had to start the kids club back up from scratch as well. In fact, I had to build the entire program back up from scratch because Covid absolutely decimated our program. We are growing, improving, getting better, and having better humans involved in our entire program. This year, our kids club was massive, Carnegie won the district championships, won the Regional Championships, and qualified 13 kids to TOC's (his highest number ever). Our high school team had 72 kids on it most of the year and we all wrestled very well all season and we are producing some great human beings for the world.
​
This year, we qualified 2 boys to the state championships. Elias Castaneda (10) went 3-2 at the state championships and finished in the top 16 of state. Absolutely amazing. I always say there's no secret formula in wrestling; you've got to put in the work in the offseason, seek out tough competition, take losses, go to camps, do extra private workouts, be a mat rat, and train, train, train, be disciplined, go to the gym, run, and way, way more. Elias did all of this since falling short of making it to state as a freshman. I really hope to see other kids follow Elias around this offseason and do what he does. One of the highlights for me at the state tournament was in Elias' 4th match. He went against a really good kid from Windsor, who Elias beat in triple overtime at the end of January. This kid was on a roll and truly believed he was going to be Elias this time. Well, Elias was winning 3-0 and then pinned the kid! It was awesome. Elias gained a ton of experience and knows that he will be able to place high at the state tournament next season.
Max Keough went 2-2 at state and wrestled absolutely amazing. After taking a tough loss on day one to start the tournament, Max had to wait all the way until day 2 to wrestle again (they only have championship rounds on day 1). Max regrouped and decided to not be satisfied with just making it to state; he wanted to wrestle at state and go out on top of his game. Max won his next 2 matches where he was losing in each of those matches and dug deep and found the wins. In his last match, Max went against a top 5 kid in state who had beat Max by technical fall in December, and then beat Max by technical fall again in January. Max didn't care and only lost 5-10 to the kid this time and took the kid down. I was amazed with how well Max wrestled and I'm so proud of him and his career. After falling short of qualifying to state his junior year, Max got right back to training and lifted, ran, did extra wrestling practices, went to a camp in Fresno, wrestled all offseason while doing football as well, and way, way more. All that work and sacrifice paid off. Max finished as a 4x CVC League champion, 4th at Masters, and went 2-2 at state, which is very impressive. Max is off to play football in College and we wish him the best of luck. We are lucky because his brothers are coming up in our program and his sister is returning to wrestle in her senior year so we will have the family around for a long time!
​
Masters Championships
It's tough to describe how tough the Masters Championships are without actually being there, in person, with your own eyes. I will say that our section is wrestling tougher, deeper, and stronger than it has wrestled in a long, long time. To even qualify for the Masters Championships is a true accomplishments.
​
On the girls side of the tournament, Myleigh Litsas battled tough and finished as a Masters qualifier. Emma Ford and Maria Alves had tough weight classes and wrestled the best they've wrestled all year. Both girls made day 2 but fell 1 match short of medaling and finished in the top 12 of Masters. This is a HUGE accomplishment and should be celebrated. I'm very proud of the growth our girls showed throughout the season and throughout their careers and spoke to each one of them about this and their future plans. Emma is a senior and is planning on wrestling at Sac City College!
​
The boys started with 5 kids and qualified 2 boys to the state tournament! Ryan Warner qualified for Masters as a first year wrestler and he should be very proud of himself. This is a huge accomplisment and a title that he will carry with him for the rest of his life. Daxon Trumbull battled through a ton of adversity and showed up and realized that he belongs at this level and then some. Look for Daxon to put in more work than ever in the offseason and be a state qualifier threat next year. Diego Leidecker finished in the top 12 at Masters last season, but had a tough draw and had some major battles this year and fell short of qualifying for state this season. Diego fought through a lot of adversity this past year and we are very proud of him and his accomplishments as a wrestler at Bella Vista.
​
I'll keep this as short as possible, but Max Keough and Elias Castaneda qualified for the State Championships! 365 days ago, as I write this, was a completely different story. Both of these kids made day 2 at Masters and we thought both would make it to state (neither would). Max lost a heart breaker in 2024 and got back on the mat almost immediately after his devastating loss a year ago. Max got back to training with a college kid immediately, lifted year round, was disciplined, attended a camp in Fresno, went to extra practices, trained year round, and way, way, way more and came back this year with a vengeance. Max went 3-0 on day one at Masters to make the semifinals. In the semifinals on day 2, Max wrestled against the #3 kid in the state from Oakdale. Max gave the kid one of his toughest matches of the season and actually took the kid down (almost took him down twice) and lost. In his next match, Max wrestled a kid that was 6' 9" tall and Max dug deep and pinned the kid to become a state qualifier. Although we are not done yet, the elation from that moment is unmatched. Max finished in 4th place at Masters and he is going to threaten a state medal next week at the state tournament.
​
Elias Castaneda is a very similar story to Max. 365 days ago, Elias was in the match to either qualify for State or end your season against a very tough kid from Vacaville (Ethan Busby). Elias lost the match when Ethan got a reversal with 3 seconds left in the match. Elias trained insanely hard in the offseason and he never stopped finding the toughest partners, doing private sessions, traveling all over the state and country to compete, lifting, running, going to camps, etc. Well, Elias has had an amazing season and won his first 3 matches at Masters to make the semifinals. We were very happy but knew we had a 2x state medalist in the semifinals. Elias lost on Saturday morning 3-4 and was about 1 second away from getting a reversal to win the match as time expired. This was an absolutely exhausting loss, and then Elias had to wrestle a top kid 30 minutes later and lost a close battle. This brought Elias to the 5tyh place match where the winner qualifies for the state championships and the person who does not win ends their season. Well, you guessed it, Elias wrestled the same kid from Vacaville (Ethan Busby) in the same exact scenario that happened 365 days ago. This match finished regulation with a tied score of 1-1. Then went to overtime and finished the first round 1-1. The intensity was at an all time high and Elias won in double overtime, 2-1! This qualified Elias for the state championships! FYI, Busby from Vacaville walked up and shook my hand and congratulated us and he's a great kid who competes year round and everything. He even was in the Carnegie room this year giving a clinic. I didn't want it to be against a kid like him, but Elias is the same way and we hope that both kids can be state medalists together next year. Anyway, we finished with 2 state qualifiers, which is the best we've done in a long time. At the same time, Carnegie won the County Championships today and we will probably have about 5- 6 freshman starters on our team next year with more in waiting. Our kids club is huge and they are all starting to funnel in starting next season. We are only getting started.
​
Round 2 of the Playoffs
The girls started the weekend at the Northern Regional Championships on Friday and Saturday. This is the first qualifying tournament of the post season for the girls and gets tougher each year. We brought 5 girls and 3 of them qualified for Masters next weekend. Myleigh Litsas finished in 6th place, Maria Alves finished in 5th place, and Emma Ford wrestled great and finished in 4th place. Great job.
​
The boys competed at the VERY tough D2 Section Championships. This is definitely the toughest divisional out of all 5 Section Championships. We brought 9 kids and qualified 5 of the 9 to Masters next weekend. Ryan Warner, a first year wrestler, competed extremely well and finished in 8th place. Daxon Trumbull, who fell short of qualifying for Masters last season and then put in a huge offseason, finished in 7th place! Daxon battled through a lot of injuries and gutted out a lot of wins to qualify. Diego Leideckder had an amazing tournament, only losing to the champion of the tournament in a very close match. Diego had a very tough draw and had to fight back from a deep (and the toughest) spot in the consolation bracket. Along the way, Diego beat the CVC league champion, who he's never beat before. Then, for 3rd place, Diego beat a Ponderosa kid who beat him last weekend and they were 2-2 against each other prior to this match. Diego won and finished in 3rd place. Max Keough made the D2 Section Finals against a really good kid from Pitman. This kid has practices partners who are ranked in the nation. Max competed very well, but fell short. The kid had some unfortunate actions and taunting but it is what it is and in the long run we'd rather beat him next week than this week. Last season, Max beat this same kid for 3rd place at sections and then this kid beat Max to medal at Masters. We are hoping to see this kid in the finals match next weekend for Masters! lastly, Elias Castaneda had an amazing weekend and finished as our D2 Section Champion! Elias beat a really tough kid in the semifinals, 7-1. This kid went on to finish in 3rd place and beat a state ranked kid 15-0 in the 3rd place match. This shows how impressive Elias' win was in the semis. In the finals, Elias went against Alex Mallot from Ponderosa, who is a kid that Elias has never beat before. Alex and his family are good people and love competing, just like Elias. Alex actually got 3rd at Masters last year and won 3 matches at the state tournament. Anyways, Elias wrestled an amazing match and got a takedown at the very end of the match to win and become a section champion. We are wrestling the best we've wrestled all season and we are ready for next weekend. I'm excited to get a good week of practice in before Masters. I'm hoping to see some kids in the finals of Masters next weekend!
​
Honestly, I was so impressed with how high the level of wrestling was at the boys tournament today and our boys competed at an equally high level. In many seasons in the past I've felt a little behind when we got to Masters, but today we proved that we belong. We are there. I credit so much of this to our offseason program, to the extra work our wrestlers put in on their own, AND the tough schedule that we had throughout the regular season this year. We are not done, and we have higher goals than just Masters. I'm very proud of every Bella Vista wrestler.
League Championships
The League Championships are always full of emotions, and today was no different. We had a lot of highs, lows, ups, downs, mediums, frustrations, excitement, anxiety, worry, and way, way more. We brought 12 guys to the tournament and had 9 qualify for the D2 Section championships and the other 3 are alternates. I will say that our league is VERY, VERY tough. When we had the coaches seeding meeting for the tournament every coach in our league was talking about how we have one of the top 3 toughest leagues in the entire section. Aiden Trunzo (9), Elias Castaneda (10), Ryan Sirois (11), Daxon Trumbull (11), Diego Leidecker (12), Will Hedrick (10), Robbie Jansen (10), Max Keough (12), and Ryan Warner (12), all qualified. I do want to say that Frank Olivera was medically disqualified because he collided heads with his opponent and the ref said that he saw Frank go unconscious. The referee has the final decision on the matter and he told me he would not allow Frank to continue wrestling for the rest of the day. This eliminated Frank from the tournament. I think it was probably the right call/decision because it seemed as though Frank could have had a possible concussion and I always want what's best for every single one of our athletes. Although Frank is a senior and 2x Masters qualifier, his health and safety are way more important than anything else... On a different note, Max Keough became a 4x CVC League Champion, which is an amazing accomplishment. Congratulations. Also, Congratulations to Emma Ford for winning a CVC League Championship today as well.
2/1/25 weekend
We only had our final dual meet against Vista Del Lago on Wednesday of this week. Although the dual meet did not go the way we wanted it to, we learned a lot and we are already getting better based on the evidence we got from that dual meet. We finished 3-2 in league where we only lost to Ponderosa and Vista Del Lago, who are 2 really, really good teams. Those teams are making us better and we are now ready for the playoffs! I know that Ponderosa made the finals of the D2 team section championships and I have not heard about how Vista has done at D3 yet.
1/25/25 Weekend
We started the week with dual victory over Woodcreek where we won 68-12. We wrestled great and looked good. Our team is definitely improving.
We took a small group of varsity boys to a really, really tough tournament at Gilrory High School. There were 125 teams at this tournament, and with a partial line up Bella Vista finished in 27th place. Elias Castaned and Max Keough both finished in 5th place at this tournament. Elias and Max are both ranked in the top 17 in the state right now and they both had a ton of guys ranked in the top 45 in state in their brackets. I think Elias had 6 guys in the top 20 of state in his bracket. Anyways, an awesome showing. Our varsity girls, varsity boys, and JV boys competed at the County Classic, which was nice that it was all in the same place. Isaiah Sheehan finished in 3rd place, Alice Myronyuk finished in 3rd place, Arwyn Perry finished in 4th place, and Emma Ford finished in 1st place. Great job!
​
1/10/25 weekend
We started the week with a home dual against a good Inderkum team. The dual meet came down to the last match and the boys won the dual 46-36. Great team effort. The girls lost their dual to Inderkum. The varsity boys went to a really tough, 2 day tournament - the Tim Brown Memorial. 87 teams were in attendance and Bella Vista finished in 14th place as a team! Very cool. Elias Castaneda had another great weekend and beat some tough guys to make the finals and finish in 2nd place. Amazing job. Max Keough beat a Nevada state medalist in the semifinals to the make the finals and finish in 2nd place. Amazing job. Diego Leidecker lost early and then won a bunch of matches in a row and battled back for a medal to finish in 8th place. Amazing job. We are improving every single week.
​
Weekend #5
The varsity boys went down to Los Angeles for the Sonora TOC. There were about 75 teams down there and it was a really tough tournament. Elias Castaneda got the #2 seed, but didn't get to wrestle because of the car accident on the way down (story is on the parent section, but everybody is healthy and safe). The rest of the team got down to L.A. after a 9 hour trip, had a practice, went to the hotel, and then got back to the tournament early on Friday morning. Everybody wrestled very well, and it was a very tough tournament. Diego Leidecker made the quarterinals and then lost a close match to the guy who got 2nd. Diego then battled back and finished in 6th place. Awesome tournament for Diego. Max Keough maintained his high level and finished in 2nd place. Max beat the #23 ranked guy in the state in the semifinals by a score of 14-2. In the finals, Max went against the #5 ranked guy in the state and lost 14-8. Max is getting better every single week. It was a long weekend, but very positive with a lot of growth.
​
The girls were at the Quarry Queen tournament this weekend. Emma Ford battled HARD all tournament long and finished in 6th place. Hard, tough matches for Emma and she's continuing to improve.
​
Weekend #4
It's hard to believe that we've already had 4 varsity tournaments. Time goes fast when you're having fun.
Dual Meet on Wednesday night - we had a CVC league dual meet on Wednesday night that was a lot of fun. We had the Jr. Broncos wrestlers in attendance and also celebrated Alumni Night. It was really fun to see so many kids and families that I've coached in the past. Things were a little different with planning this year, but I plan on growing the alumni night next year with a couple of events. Anyway, our girls went against a good Rio Americano team and lost, but split the matches that were wrestled. Our girls are now 1-1 in league. Our boys beat Rio Americano 67-9, a great showing! The boys are now 1-1 in league.
​
Varsity Boys- the boys were at 2 different tournaments this weekend. Elias, Diego, and Max went down to Buchanan high school in Fresno to compete in the Zinkin tournament. This is one of the toughest tournaments in California and these 3 definitely need to attend tougher tournaments to get more of a challenge. Unfortunately, Diego got the flu and had to forfeit out after his first match. Max Keough wrestled amazing and finished in 4th place. Max lost his last match in triple overtime to the #10 ranked wrestler in the state. Elias also wrestled amazing and beat a lot of ranked wrestlers to finish in 3rd place. Great showing by these guys. Our other guys competed at the Marty Manges tournament at Casa Roble. This is always a challenging tournament. Leading the way was Daxon Trumbull, who finished in 3rd place. Will Hedrick finished in 5th place and Evander Leidecker finished in 6th place. The flu bug hit us hard this past weekend and we only had 8 guys competing at the Casa tournament.
​
Our girls competed at the Women's West Coast TOC in Roseville. This tournament has wrestlers from multiple states and is a very tough tournament. Sadie Keough was the only wrestler to make day 2, but Coach Nishimura said all of our girls are improving in a rapid way and they are on the verge of taking it to the next level.
Weekend #3
We started the week with a dual meet at Ponderosa on Wednesday night. Ponderosa has an excellent team, with half of their wrestlers ranked in the state. They didn't disappoint and we only won 4 of the 14 matches, but we learned a lot and Ponderosa made us better. Our girls won Bella Vista's first ever girls dual meet. Great job, girls!!!!!! Boys are 0-1 and Girls are 1-0.
Varsity Boys - The varsity boys competed at a very tough tournament at Elk Grove on Saturday. Elias Castaneda finished in 2nd place after a great tournament. Elias pinned a kid in the semifinals who is ranked in state and the kid and him were 1-1 against each other prior to that match In the finals, Elias wrestled a defending state medalist and lost 4-6. Elias was in on a takedown at the end of the match but fell short. Diego Leidecker finished in 3rd place and got better as the tournament went on. Diego lost to a Ponderosa kid in the quarterfinals, the same kid he beat in the dual a few days prior. Diego was winning 6-0 and then got pinned. Diego wrestled the same kid for the 3rd place match and won 10-2. Will Hedrick finished as a 5th place medalist. Max Keough took first place and he is now a 3x Curt Mettler Tournament Champion. Great work.
Varsity Girls - the girls competed in a last minute tournament at Lincoln HS so these were some bonus matches. Emma Ford made the semifinals and the injury defaulted out of the tournament. Myleigh Litsas finished as a 4th place medalist!
Weekend #2
Varsity Boys - The varsity boys competed in a very tough, 9 team dual meet rotation at Vacaville High School on Friday and Saturday. We had 4 dual meets on Friday and 4 dual meets on Saturday. There were some really tough teams from the Clovis area, Gilroy, Reno, and the Bay Area. We hadn't won a dual here in 4 years and we ended up going 3-5 but that could have easily been 5-3 because 2 dual meets were decided by 1 match. Elias Castaneda went 7-1 on the weekend and beat the #28 ranked and #29 ranked guys in state back to back. Elias' only loss was to the #5 in state and it was a great match 8-14. Elias can go with anyone. Jaharie Osborne was the surprise of the weekend and was the only BV wrestler to earn "All-Tournament" for BV. Overall, the team improved in every single match and we looked really good. I'm very proud.
​
Varsity Girls - the girls wrestled at the Casa Roble tournament where Emma Ford found her rhythm again and finished in 1st place. Emma won every match by pin or tech-fall. 2 years ago Emma finished in the top 12 of state and she's been adjusting after missing last season due to injury. Sadie Keough (Coach Keough's daughter) is improving tremendously every single day and she ended up in 4th place at this tournament! As a first year wrestler, being able to medal in your 2nd varsity tournament ever is amazing. The girls will wrestle at Ponderosa on Wednesday night and then travel to Lincoln of Lincoln HS on Saturday.
​
Weekend #1
Varsity Boys - we traveled to a tough tournament at Redwood High School in Larkspur. Our team had a good tournament and finished in 8th place out of 31 teams. Elias Castaneda and Max Keough both took first place in the tournament and pinned every person they wrestled. Great job! Aiden Trunzo won the consolation bracket, as did Frank Olivera. Diego Leidecker finished in 3rd place. Those were our only medalists but our team wrestled well and the coaches noticed a lot of areas that we need to work on as a team. We are going to get back to practice and get a lot better this week! I'm proud of the team​
​
Girls - the girls wrestled at the Folsom tournament. This is always a tough tournament and most of our girls were wrestling in their first high school wrestling matches, ever. Sadie Keough, Danielle Schmidt, and Emma Ford all went 1-2. Alice Myronyuk went 2-2 and finished in the top 6. Justine Allen and Myleigh Litsas also competed.
​
​
​