Lower Lake tournament draws 20 teams, 340 wrestlers
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LOWER LAKE >> The Gladiators Wrestling Club hosted the Takedown Before Christmas tournament on Saturday at Lower Lake High School as 340 wrestlers from 20 different teams battled it out in eight-, 16- and 32-man brackets.
The host Gladiators had 60 wrestlers entered and came away with the championship team trophy.
“It was a great turnout, and we had some tough competition,” Gladiators head coach Peter Stephan said. “This was the largest wrestling tournament that the Gladiators have hosted, and a lot of that is because of how much the sport of wrestling is growing in Lake County.”
Other local teams in attendance included CORE (Lower Lake), Middletown Wrestling Club and Northshore Wrestling Club (Upper Lake).
The Takedown Before Christmas also doubles as a Tournament of Champions qualifier for middle-schoolers. Qualifying for the Gladiators were Logun Whittle (first at 100 pounds), Kailaya Philpot (third at 108 pounds), Brayden Paminto (fourth place at 89 pounds), and Hayden Janssen (fifth place at 128 pounds).
Takedown before Christmas first-place finishers for the Gladiators were Colin Crow (8-1, five pins, two technical falls); Brantley Paminto (7-1, five pins, one technical fall); Elijah Tucker (7-2, four pins, one technical fall); Kailaya Philpot (6-1, six pins); Laylony Barocio (4-0, three pins, one technical fall); Brian Patrick (4-0, two pins); Logun Whittle (3-0, two pins); Sebastian James (3-0, one pin, one technical fall); Kameron Colston (3-0, three pins).
Paminto improved to 29-3 on the season. Crow is 27-11, Philpot 25-10, Tucker 21-10 and Whittle 19-4. Barocio was competing in her first tournament of the season after recovering from an injury, and Patrick also was competing in his first tournament.
Seconds went to Kaitlyn Crow, Anastasia Garcia, Julian Negrete-Cruz and John Young. Finishing third went to Nevaeh Barocio, Brantley Paminto, Kailaya Philpot, Emiliano Rodriguez Ocampo and John Young.
Placing fourth were Logan Olivares, Jameson Philpot, Maverick Paminto, Lily Oakes, Kaitlyn Crow, Thomas Philpot, Nevaeh Barocio, Judah O’Keefe, Brayden Paminto, Leroy Hopkins and Alyssa Hopkins.
Fifth-place finishers were Gary Oakes, Maverick Paminto, Elijah Tucker, Yaretzi Saucedo Briseno, Thomas Philpot and Hayden Janssen.
Placing sixth were Mattix Paminto, Jessie Richardson IV, William Villa, Emanuel Saucedo and Ethan Negrete-Cruz.
CORE Wrestling Club
The CORE Wrestling Club sent 23 wrestlers to the tournament and Wyatt Hooten earned second- and third-place medals.
Other top CORE finishers were Tucker Heywood (second), Daniel Clark (third), Ryder White Eagle (third), Georgia Emerson (third), and Eric Holley (fourth).
“The kids are starting to buy into the program,” CORE coach Danny Cuellar said. “We saw them do little things in wrestling that were big wins in our book. Eric Holley, with seven matches on the day, going 5-2, was really impressive. Wyatt Hooten double-bracketing and wrestling nine matches was to say the least a heart of a lion right there. He overcame adversity in both brackets and finished strong.”
Added Cuellar, “Kholton Downey and Jesse Taylor showed some wrestling heart out there as well, and our girls proved to us that they are paying attention at practice.”
