Oak Ridge High’s wrestling program has grown into one of the top programs in the Sacramento area and a big part of that success has been the development of the El Dorado Hills Wrestling Club.

The club, formed a decade ago by Ben West and Mike Sundby, has started kids wrestling at a younger age and that early experience has made the kids more formidable wrestlers when they get to high school.

For the eighth time, the club held its summer wrestling camp last week at Golden Hills School and around 16 wrestlers participated in the first of two camps this summer, the second coming in early August.

West organized the camp and brought in several top-notch clinicians to help train the wrestlers, including former Oak Ridge grad and Cal Poly wrestler Andy Wagner, former Stanford All-American Beau Weiner, Barrett Abel from Union Mine, UC Davis and Cal Poly, Michael Nakagawa, twice a state champ in Hawaii and former UC Davis wrestler, Trevor Machado-Ching, former California state champ and Cody Tow, a four-time California state placer.

The camp ran from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, with the younger kids leaving at 12:15 p.m. While the numbers were slightly down from previous years, combined with the camp in August, West said the numbers will actually be higher when it’s all said and done.

“We don’t have as many kids this week, but these kids are all serious about wrestling and they wrestle all year round,” Wagner said. “There’s not any babysitting going on; we’re getting a lot done and having fun doing it.”

The clinicians teach and review the fundamentals of wrestling and then introduce new techniques and moves to the kids to help their knowledge of the sport grow.

“We push their skill level enough so they learn new moves and techniques that they can use on the mat,” Wagner said.

Wagner, a 2006 graduate of Oak Ridge and 2010 graduate of Cal Poly, is in his sixth year as a clinician at the camp and enjoys helping out the up-and-coming wrestlers.

“It’s cool to see these kids develop and grow,” Wagner said. “Some of these kids have been coming for a number of years and they get better each year.”

Wagner said the development of the youth program has helped the high school program, saying that since he graduated Oak Ridge is sending a wrestler to a Division I college every year.

West concurs.

“The club has had a tremendous impact,” West said. “We’re able to get kids wrestling at an earlier age and carry training throughout the year. We went to having 35 pre-high school wrestlers to 200. All the state placers except one have come through the program so it works.”

Tanner Sherrow, who will be entering his senior year at Bret Harte High in Angels Camp, attended the camp, while staying with relatives in Shingle Springs. He qualified for the state meet last year and wanted to improve his skills.

“There’s not a lot of high school kids here for me to wrestle, but I’ve been working out with Andy and Barrett and Trevor and they’ve taught me a lot, more than I thought I’d learn. It’s been a great experience for me.”

Sherrow, who wrestled at 152 pounds last season, hopes to earn a medal at the state meet his senior year.

Most of the wrestlers at the camp were young local boys like Mikey Mello and Kaden West. Mello, a 10-year-old sixth grader at Rolling Hills, has been wresting for four years.

“I like the camp because it’s fun and you get to learn new moves,” Mello said. “A lot of my friends I hang out with are here too.”

West, 10, will be a fourth grader at Jackson Elementary and has been wrestling for three or four years.

“I like wrestling because it’s fun and you need to be tough to do it,” West said. “The camp is good because there are a lot of good instructors that teach us moves and we also play a lot of games.”

Both Mello and West aspire to be champions, as both said their goal is to be a state champion some day.

“It will take hard work, a lot of hard work,” West said.

The wrestling club will be holding another camp Aug. 1-5. For more info go to edhsports.com.