In the confines of their own gymnasium, representing their school at their flagship tournament, a trio of Turlock High wrestlers earned spots atop their respective podiums at Saturday’s Bulldog Classic.

Cole Cronon and Jack Locke made it two straight years with first-place medals, while Levi Cook avenged a runner-up finish a year ago to lead Turlock High to a team title, besting 19 other schools inside a packed Bulldog Arena.

The Bulldogs posted a collective team score of 184, which was 24 points clear of second-place Patterson. 

Cronon, competing in the 132-pound weight class, claimed his crown with pin victories in each of his three matches. The first, against Isaiah Shirley of Central Valley (Ceres) came just over a minute into the very first period at a time when he held a 13-2 lead on the scorecards. He followed it up with a technical fall at 18-2 over Gregori’s Gavin Hill in the early stages of the second period of the semifinal before pinning Central Valley’s Rotceh Mendez midway through the first period of the title match.

After going toe-to-toe with Musa Geham of Stone Ridge Christian through a minute of the 157-pound quarterfinal match and holding a slim 3-1 lead, Locke earned a fall to advance to the semifinal, where he pinned Alhamudin Mohammadi of Grace Davis just before the final horn of the first period. He finished his day with a pin of Stone Ridge Christian’s Anthony Wareham with 17 seconds to spare in the opening round of the championship clash.

Up at 215 pounds, Cook was the lone bracket champion for Turlock that wasn’t afforded a first-round bye. It proved to be no problem, as Cook began his day by earning a fall victory right at the buzzer against Daniel Ibarra of Enochs. He proceeded to earn a pin against Beyer’s Carlos Vega midway through the second period of the quarterfinal round. In his penultimate match with Livingston’s Angel Pina, Cook cruised to a 16-2 majority decision. And with 20 seconds left on the clock in the title match against Patterson’s David Anica-Garcia, he muscled his way to a fall victory.

The champions were three of 10 Turlock grapplers to place, with a total of six Bulldog landing in the top three of their respective brackets.

Uriah Castillo was a runner-up in the 126-pound weight division, winning his opening match against Jesus Omera of Enochs by first-period in and muscling his way to a 23-7 technical fall right up to the final seconds of the third period. He lost by technical decision 18-1, to Isaac Alvarez of Johansen in the title match.

Shane Petty finished in third place at 165 pounds. After a first-round loss to Johansen’s Jeydan Saing by 13-8 decision, Petty strung together five straight wins to cap off his day, four by pin. One of those wins came in the third consolation, exacting revenge on Saing with a pin in the early stages of the second period. In the third place match, he came through with a thrilling 2-1 decision over Marquis Thomas of Grace Davis.

Also finishing in third was Jayden Perez at 144 pounds. Perez won via technical fall, 15-0, in his first match against Beyer’s Daniel Alderete before pulling out a 9-7 decision over Phoenix De La Cruz of Modesto in the quarterfinal. On the wrong end of a technical fall in the semifinals, Perez claimed third with a default victory moments later.

Freddy Luna earned fourth at 285 pounds, while Mattius Gonzalez clinched fifth at 165. Samuel Rodriguez claimed sixth in the 138-pound division  and Jacob Cornish wrapped up the scoring with an eighth-place finish at 215 pounds.

The Bulldogs continued their action-packed week with a preseason dual on the road against Merced High on Tuesday. They’ll then keep the ball rolling with the renewal of a storied regional rivalry with Hughson High on Thursday, a dual matchup meaningful to Turlock head coach Ricky Gonzalez.

The last time the two programs matched up was in late 1999. The Huskies entered ranked as the top team in the state, with Gonzalez a freshman on the top 20 varsity Bulldog squad that pulled off an improbable upset.

“Bringing this matchup back is special, not just for our team, but for our communities,” Gonzalez said.

It’ll set the table for a Dec. 17 meeting between Turlock and Central Catholic (Modesto) back at Bulldog Arena, with a chance for grapplers on each side to test their skills ahead of what they hope to be successful regular seasons before anticipated long playoff runs.