KELSEYVILLE — The mention of Upper Lake High School wrestling in the same breath as Coastal Mountain Conference champions would have drawn laughter only a few seasons ago when the Cougars were in their infancy under head coach Tom Cox and assistant Ron Campos.
No one”s laughing now … unless it”s the Cougars.
Upper Lake”s senior-dominated squad claimed the first CMC title in the school”s history on Saturday by winning the conference championship meet at Kelseyville High School. The Cougars, the regular-season dual champs, followed it up with a strong showing in their final team event of the 2008-09 season, outscoring Fort Bragg 183.5-152.
“Fort Bragg was very confident,” Cox said. “They got a couple of kids back at the end of the season and they have 10 seniors on the team. They thought they could beat us on a good day and they had a good day … and we still beat them.”
Upper Lake wrestlers advanced to the finals in eight of 14 weight divisions and five Cougars — James Lolonis at 105 pounds, Russell Dickinson at 132 pounds, Robbie Avery at 142 pounds, Brian Hatfield at 191 pounds, and Randy Dickinson at 217 pounds — all went 3-0 on the day to finish first.
“It”s something Ron and I discussed four years ago,” Cox said of the possibility of winning a CMC championship back in 2005-06 when he and Campos assumed control of the Upper Lake program. “There were no wrestling banners in the rafters at our gym. Now we”ve got one. We did it.”
“The Upper Lake team this year is one of the best overall teams the CMC has produced over the last 10 years or so,” Middletown coach Troy Brierly said. “They were pretty dominant and those kids deserve a lot more respect than they will get at the NCS seeding meeting.”
The top three finishers in each weight class at the CMC finals move on to the North Coast Section Championships Friday and Saturday in Newark. As Brierly alluded to, only two of the Cougars who will be attending the meet are seeded — Avery is No. 2 at 142 pounds and Randy Dickinson is No. 8 at 217 pounds.
“Now our goal is to get as many kids as possible to medal in the sectionals and hopefully get a few to state,” Cox said.
While the top eight finishers in each weight class at this weekend”s NCS Championships earn a medal, something only two Cougars have ever done, only the top four placers move on to the CIF State Championships Feb. 27-28 in Bakersfield.
Avery, sixth a year ago, and Leonard Meyer, who placed third in 1985, are the only two Cougars to bring home NCS medals, and Meyer is the only Upper Lake wrestler to reach state, according to Cox.
Of the nine Cougars to finish third or higher Saturday in Kelseyville, Avery, Lolonis, Hatfield and Randy Dickinson have the best chance to win a medal at the sectionals, according to Cox. And Avery, by virtue of his No. 2 seeding, is already favored to become the second Upper Lake wrestler to reach the state finals.
Cox also believes his 162-pounder, Ben Britton, who lost to Fort Bragg”s Jake Beyer this past Saturday, and third-place 112-pounder Fwee Chao have some chance to bring home NCS medals.
While the Cougars dominated the team scoring portion of Saturday”s meet, three other county wrestlers also brought home first-place medals and one of them, Lower Lake”s Tyler Johnson at 137 pounds, collected his third straight CMC championship, all in different weight classes.
“He won at 127 pounds as a sophomore, 142 pounds as a junior and 137 pounds as a senior this season,” Lower Lake coach Ed Fuchs said.
Johnson also broke the school”s record for most takedowns in a single season on Saturday.
“He needed eight takedowns to tie the record and he got 20,” Fuchs said.
And Johnson can add to that total, now at 153, this weekend in Newark.
Other county weight class winners were Troy Davis of Kelseyville at 173 pounds and Middletown”s Taylor Hoefer at 154 pounds. Davis also was named the tournament”s outstanding heavyweight, joining MVP lightweight Kevin Escher of Fort Bragg (121-pound champion) and Upper Lake”s Avery, the MVP middleweight.
Second-place medals went to Middletown”s Nolan Tkachenko (127), Upper Lake”s Brandon Sneathen (137), an 8-4 loser to Johnson, Upper Lake”s Britton at 162 pounds, Lower Lake”s Justin Harrison at 217 pounds, and Upper Lake”s Sam Wurm at 287 pounds.
Earning third-place medals were Clear Lake”s Jacob Humble (105), Upper Lake”s Chao (114), Clear Lake”s Brandon Holt (121) and Robby Hammers (142), Middletown”s Tyler Hamilton (147), Clear Lake”s Derek Larsen (162) and Michael Reynolds (191), and Kelseyville”s Morgan Nelson (287).
Two of the day”s hard-luck wrestlers were Lower Lake”s Brandon Painchaud at 114 pounds and Middletown”s Jason Hill at 191 pounds. Painchaud, only a freshman, won his first match and was on the verge of beating eventual 114-pound champion Tom Bender of Willits in the semifinals when Bender caught him with a move in the final 30 seconds and pinned him. Painchaud then lost 7-1 to Chao in the third-place match.
Hill reached the 191-pound finals against Upper Lake”s Hatfield but was disqualified for flagrant misconduct, according to Brierly.
“I won”t comment on that other than to say that it cost us the third-place trophy,” Brierly said.
As a result of the disqualification, Hill will not advance to the NCS tournament.
“Overall my young group stepped it up and showed some definite promise for the years to come,” Brierly added.
