FORT BRAGG — Two tournaments into the 2009-10 wrestling season and the Upper Lake Cougars are 2-for-2, as in two first-place trophies for their growing collection at the northshore school.
“Yeah, we did pretty well,” Upper Lake coach Tom Cox said in something of an understatement after the Cougars topped the 16-team field on Saturday at the Fort Bragg Tournament.
The Cougars beat out Ukiah for the team title. Eureka came in third, Clear Lake was fourth and Elsie Allen (Santa Rosa) rounded out the top five.
Through thrilled with his team”s performance, Cox also had high praise for Clear Lake, a team the Cougars will run into again down the road when they go head-to-head during the Coastal Mountain Conference race.
“They really impressed me,” Cox said of the Cardinals. “They”re really wrestling well. I couldn”t help but do the math about how we stacked up (head-to-head) and we”re going to have our hands full against those guys.”
The Cougars brought home 10 medals — awarded to the top five in each weight class — including three firsts, a second and two thirds.
Weight division winners were Ward Beecher, who had all pins at 130 pounds; Fwee Chao at 112 pounds; and Brandon Sneathen, who beat a Eureka wrestler in the 145-pound finals.
Ben Britton won a second-place medal at 171 pounds and Bruce Tucker (140) and James McCloud (160) brought home third-place medals.
Cougars finishing fourth were Daniel Driskell (189) and Anthony Steele (215). Fifth-place medals went to Bradley Brackett (152) and Jacob Warner (heavyweight).
Robert Simondi placed sixth at 130 pounds.
