BAKERSFIELD — North Coast Section 140-pound runner-up Robbie Avery of Upper Lake High School will face either Matt Iwanaga of Esperanza High School or Josh Perkins of Central Valley High School in his first match on Friday at the CIF State Wrestling Championships in Bakersfield.
Avery beat Perkins by technical fall last season, according to Upper Lake coach Tom Cox.
“He was only a freshmen then, so I”m sure he”s improved,” Cox said.
If Avery beats either Iwanaga or Perkins, he”ll likely face Nalan Ludwig of Elk Grove High School in the next round.
Ludwig, the runner-up in the Sac-Joaquin Section, is one of the top-ranked 140-pounders in the state. He lost to another in the Sac-Joaquin finals, Vlad Dombrovsky of Natomas High School.
Asked about Avery”s chances of bringing home a medal from the state tournament, which means placing in the top eight, Cox answered, “He has a very realistic chance to place. The first thing is to get him to the second day and then see what happens.”
Of the 40 wrestlers in the 140-pound state bracket, Avery owns wins over nine of them.
“He”s been to a lot of tough tournaments this season,” Cox said. “I”ve had one state placer before (at Sutter) and Robbie is every bit as motivated. This is the toughest state tournament in the nation because there are no divisions. It”s called the meat-grinder.”
While Cox and assistant coach Ron Campos are rightly proud of the accomplishments of Avery this season, they”re not alone.
“You”ll hear a lot about Robbie Avery from Cox, but me and my team are impressed by him and think he represents the CMC (Coastal Mountain Conference) very well,” Middletown coach Troy Brierly said. “Heck, I”m not even his coach and I”m as proud of him as I can be.”
Added Lower Lake coach Ed Fuchs of Avery”s 4-2 loss to David Rios of Liberty in the NCS Championships on Saturday night, “That was a great match and Avery almost pulled it out. I was so proud of him. He”s done a lot for Upper Lake and our conference.”
