MIDDLETOWN — Not even a powerful blast of winter could derail the two-day Mustang Invitational Wrestling Tournament on Friday and Saturday at Middletown High School.
Sixteen of the 21 teams scheduled to participate managed to reach Middletown on Friday for the opening rounds of the tournament despite one of the worst storms to hit the area in many years. Nearly five inches of rain fell in parts of the Redwood Empire on Friday and snowfall at lower elevations also made it tough for many of the teams coming from the north state to reach Lake County.
“Due to the storm, we wrestled by generator and portable construction lights on Friday,” Middletown coach Troy Brierly said of the otherwise blacked out Middletown gym because of fallen power lines. “All of the kids, coaches and spectators made the best of a bad situation and we had a great day considering all of the logistical problems.”
Electricity had been restored by Saturday in the Middletown area and Brierly said the tournament”s final day went off without a hitch.
“We had great wrestling both days and the finals showcased some section-bound wrestlers,” Brierly said. “Lake County wrestlers fared well all day and many medaled.”
El Molino High School of Forestville won the team title with 141 points, beating out runner-up Middletown by four points. Corning High School came in third with 124.
Of the 14 individual weight classes, Lake County wrestlers won four titles. Middletown”s Taylor Hoefer finished first at 152 pounds as did teammate Matt Dakin at 160 pounds, while Upper Lake”s Mike Diggs and Rob Avery took home titles at 103 and 140 pounds, respectively.
Two other Middletown wrestlers — William Phelps at 112 pounds and John Dedmon at 145 pounds — came in second.
“I was impressed by our young team,” Brierly said. “Every one of them wrestled to the best of their abilities. El Molino was just a hair too strong for us.”
Other second-place finishes went to Fwee Chao of Upper Lake (103) and Joseph Dingess of Lower Lake (130).
Upper Lake”s Avery was voted the tournament”s outstanding middleweight and teammate Diggs logged the tournament”s fastest pin at 14 seconds.
