Oakdale High School senior Trevor Williams is well known for his wrestling abilities. The senior is a four time CIF State Championship qualifier, and though his prep season and high school career may have ended earlier this year, Williams still hits the mats hard.
He recently went to Selland Arena in Fresno to wrestle in the 2016 CA USA Freestyle Open. The 138-pound grappler took first place in the tournament going 4-0 and taking out some familiar faces along the way.
Williams prepared for this tournament with the help of fellow State qualifiers Steven and Danny Abbate of Central Catholic.
“They helped me out with training. They came to Oakdale and the three of us worked together and drove down to Fresno together. It was awesome working with those guys, they know what they’re doing,” Williams said of his training partners.
The senior Mustang made his presence known early when he defeated Eduardo Vizcaino of Santa Ana via technical fall. Williams then squared off against Lawrence Saenz of Vacaville. Saenz defeated Williams at Masters this past February with a 3-2 decision.
“People still tell me that I won that match, because of a late takedown, but they didn’t see it that way so there was some controversy there,” Williams said of his second round opponent.
It was a different outcome in Fresno as Williams defeated Saenz 15-4 in a technical fall.
“It felt good beating him, I knew that I could and wanted to send a message to everyone in the tournament with that win,” said Williams.
His quarterfinals match saw him take on Joshua Tolentino of Poway High School. In the match, Williams doubled up Tolentino 12-6 to advance to the semi-finals. There, Williams met with Nicholas Camacho of Titan, where Williams earned his third technical fall of the weekend winning 13-2.
Williams found himself in the finals against Joshua Solomon. For the first time in the tournament, Williams was in a 4-2 hole after the first period. Williams regained his composure and tied it up at 4 when he got his opponent in a bear hug and slammed him to the mat.
“I knew it was my time. I knew I could beat him, when I slammed him the crowd reaction boosted my confidence,” said Williams on the vocal support.
That slam earned Williams the tie-breaker as “Biggest Move” of the match, awarding Williams the victory by criteria.
“I know that I would not be where I am at without the help of Oakdale High School and the wrestling team. There were so many that helped me out over the last four years from my coaches Steve Strange, Abel Colunga, Brian Stevens and Vic Moreno,” Williams pointed out. “Also the guys in college that helped me along the way like Nico Colunga, Max Stevens, Ronnie Stevens and Logan Eaton, they all helped tremendously.”
