County boys, girls punch their tickets for North Coast Section Championships
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LAKEPORT >> Lake County’s high school wrestlers punched their tickets into the North Coast Section Championships next weekend in Union City during the Division 3 finals Friday at Clear Lake High School in Lakeport.
Twenty-four teams from throughout Northern California sent wrestlers to the competition, including Lake County schools Clear Lake, Kelseyville, Middletown and Upper Lake. Top-four finishers in all weight divisions, boys and girls, advance to the sectional championships next weekend at James Logan High School. Fifth-place wrestlers are alternates.
Clear Lake’s girls won the Division 3 team championship with Kelseyville finishing as runner-up. In boys team scoring, Willits came in first, McKinleyville was second, Healdsburg third and Kelseyville fourth.
Boys
Upper Lake wrestlers Rene Lopez (115 pounds) and Aiden Dancer (165 pounds) won their weight divisions. Lopez pinned Middletown’s Gerardo Rodriguez in the second round in the 115-pound championship match. Kelseyville’s Branden Brown came in third.
Dancer, among the top-ranked 165-pounders in the state, pinned Donald Hostler of Hoopa Valley in the first round of their championship match.
Middletown’s Owen Hawkins won the 126-pound championship, pinning St. Patrick/St. Vincent’s Peter Togonon in the second round.
Lake County wrestlers also took a handful of second-place medals. Kelseyville’s Logun Whittle advanced to the 106-pound finals, falling by 10-0 major decision to Vladimir Bertoleno of Willits.
At 120 pounds, Cash Cole of Kelseyville lost by 22-6 technical fall to Aiden Punihaole-Figueroa of Willits in the championship match. Upper Lake’s Joel Lopez finished third.
At 132 pounds, Joel Rascon of Clear Lake fell 9-4 in the finals to Na-Tess Marquez of McKinleyville.
At 150 pounds, Cody Holmes of Kelseyville lost by 16-1 technical fall to Preston Killingsworth of Ferndale.
Other third-place medals went to Hayden Brown of Kelseyville at 144 pounds, and to Conri Richardson of Clear Lake at 175 pounds.
Placing fourth were Andrew Souza of Kelseyville at 157 pounds and John Carr of Kelseyville at 285 pounds.
“What a fantastic day for our Kelseyville High School wrestling team,” Kelseyville head coach Shane Carl said. “I am so proud of our athletes who showed great effort and talent throughout the tournament. We had seven wrestlers make it to the finals, demonstrating their hard work and dedication. The boys team came very close, finishing fourth, just a half-point behind third place. It was a nail-biter. We were so close to earning another banner for our school.”
Girls
Team champion Clear Lake advanced wrestlers to the finals in five weight divisions, and while only Ariel Perez (155 pounds) was the only champion – she pinned Alyssa Rastarhuyeva of Berean Christian – the Cardinals were able to pile up the team points.
Second-place medals went to Clear Lake wrestlers Ashlynn Norsat, who was pinned in the second round by Healdsburg’s Jocelyn Ramirez at 105 pounds; to Liliana Cortes, who was pinned in the first round by Kelseyville’s Laney Fossa at 115 pounds; to Madeline Brown, who lost by default to Upper Lake’s Lexi Peregrina at 130 pounds; and to Ema Vasquez, who was pinned in the second round by Amakarla Hernandez of St. Helena at 145 pounds.
Clear Lake’s Perez, Kelseyville’s Fossa and Upper Lake’s Peregrina joined Middletown’s Sophie Yebra (100 pounds) as weigh division champions from Lake County. Yebra, the No. 2 seed, pinned No. 1 seed Andee Lewis of Hoopa Valley in the second round.
Other second-place medals went to Kelseyville’s Madeline Hayes, who lost by 20-5 technical fall to Carlie Wong of Berean Christian at 120 pounds; to Kelseyville’s Kaia Calhoun, who was pinned in the first round by Healdsburg’s Cecile Michener at 110 pounds; to Kelseyville’s Kyia Gregoire, who was pinned by Emelia Velasquez-Owslang of Willits in the first round; and to Middletown’s Alivia Stark, who lost by third-round pin to Dasani Thomas of the Oakland Military Institute at 190 pounds.
Clear Lake’s Valerie Ortego (125 pounds) and Nikki Buechler (235 pounds) finished third while Kelseyville’s Rebecca Sanchez (190 pounds) came in fourth.
Kelseyville’s Sienna Cantrell (135 pounds) and Hannah Bila (235 pounds) finished fifth.
“The girls also had an amazing day, starting strong and finishing in second place in Division 3, right behind the Clear Lake girls team,” Carl said. “Their determination and teamwork were impressive, and it’s clear they are ready for what’s next.”
First-year Middletown head coach Aaron Sprague praised the efforts of his wrestlers as well.
“It’s my first year as the head coach of these Mustangs and I am truly proud of the effort they put in on and off the mat,” Sprague said. “The hard work this team puts in every day makes coaching this amazing team that much better. We are excited for sections and back on the grind in preparation Monday.”