The five wrestlers were senior co-captains Jacob Berry, Scott Denny and Andrew Yip and varsity juniors Jason Jee and Dustin Kwong.

Although the wrestlers did not place at state, Berry won a sportsmanship award that was given to only 10 of the 600 wrestlers at the tournament. He was unsure to why he won this award. “They gave it to me because I was nice, I guess,” Berry said.

Because they didn’t expect to place at state, some of the wrestlers enjoyed the experience more than the actual wrestling.

“State was a lot of fun and a great way to celebrate our wins at All-City,” Kwong said.

TALIA COOMBES Senior Luis Wong takes down an immobilized Mission opponent at All-City. Lowell finished second place to Galileo.

For Jee, this was his second time going to state, and he too said that “it was more interesting this time around, partly because more wrestlers from Lowell had a chance to go.”

Jee said he also gained a unique experience. “It feels so different to wrestle the best wrestlers from all over the state compared to wrestling just around the area,” he said.

Yip agreed, explaining that the competition throughout California is extremely tough compared to that of San Francisco.

Although during All-City Lowell’s wrestling team took second place after Galileo, Berry still felt their performance was a success.

Galileo may have racked up more points than Lowell, but both teams had the same number of champions going to state.

“It was definitely a good day,” Berry said. “We had five people take first and that is more than any other All-City in my time at Lowell. The most we have had before has been two people.”

Most Valuable Players
The Lowell’s choices for MVPs this year are Yip and varsity senior Anny Nguyen.

Despite his slim yet muscular figure, Yip placed higher than most varsity boys at tournaments, including 2nd place at the Bay Area Invitational. Not only is he one of the top wrestlers on the team, he is also one of the most dedicated members.

“He comes to our girls’ tournaments even though he doesn’t have to, and even drives us to them,” junior wrestler Jessica Huang said of Yip. “Not many other guys would do that.”

Nguyen proved to be another important asset to the team. She is the only fourth year wrestler and the only varsity girl on the team.

“She wrestled guys that are a lot heavier than her,” wrestling manager junior Pearl Yee said. “She is a good example of what a female wrestler should be, because she works hard to achieve what she has and she’s very skilled.”

She placed first at the United States Girls Wrestling Association tournament in the northern California section on March 4. At the tournament, her championship match went into quadruple overtime with the score of zero to zero. She finally won by one point after an escape.

“I’m glad that I went because I would not have been satisfied with ending my season at All-City and it makes it all the better that I won,” Nguyen said. “I wrestled hard. I left everything on the mat and it was the perfect way to end my wrestling career. I’m finally proud of myself.”