DURHAM, Calif. -- Jacob Christensen represented Durham High at the 2020 California Interscholastic Federation’s State Wrestling Championship.

The junior was the No. 1 seed and went all the way to the finals.

“I came out but I didn’t wrestle my game. I made a couple mistakes and he capitalized on them,” said Christensen.

Jacob fell short losing a 9-4 decision.

“It was disappointing, but the more I think about it, it’s like I progressed, so that’s a win in general.”

His runner up finish was a big jump from last year’s 6th place and a 1-2, out his freshman year. He says this progress won’t stop.

“I didn’t really want to bank on it and be like ‘oh it’s fine, I got my next year,’ so it feels good that it wasn’t my end result in high school, but this next year is going to be a lot of hard work and a lot of dedication.”

Jacob was the first Trojan in school history to reach a State final and hopes to be the first one to take the State title.

“This is a year-a-round thing for me. I got to put in work from the start. The harder I work and outwork my opponent, the better for me.”

The junior improved his GPA to a 3.8 to hopefully land a scholarship to Cal Poly or Stanford his senior year.
It adds a lot of pressure, but I like the pressure. I’m also going to have that extra chip on my shoulder. Nobody is going to beat me, this is my year to take it.”