SACRAMENTO — Upper Lake High School wrestlers Brandon Sneathen and Ward Beecher just missed out on a medal Saturday during the final rounds of the Foothill Invitational in Sacramento.
“This meet honestly is a lot tougher than our section meet,” Upper Lake head coach Tom Cox said. “There were 97 schools, including schools from the San Joaquin Section and Northern Section, which is on the rise this year while our section is a little bit down.”
Sneathen (140 pounds), Beecher (125 pounds) and Fwee Chao (103) advanced to the final day of the two-day tournament, all in the consolation round, after going 3-1 on Friday when three other Cougars were eliminated.
Chao lost his first match on Saturday to fall out of the running while both Sneathen and Beecher won their first two matches, leaving them a victory away from a top-eight finish and guaranteed medal.
Beecher fell 10-6 in his third match Saturday.
“He wrestled a good senior and did well,” Cox said. “He”s going to be there.”
On Friday, Beecher”s only loss came to the North Coast Section”s No. 2-ranked wrestler at 125 pounds. Beecher”s now 24-4 on the season.
Sneathen almost upset the top-ranked NCS wrestler, Healdsburg”s Travis Arreguin, in his final match Saturday. He ended up on the wrong end of a 9-8 decision and Arreguin went on to finish fourth.
“He (Arreguin) went 3-2 at the state tournament last year,” Cox said.
“Brandon wrestled outstanding,” Cox added. “Brandon is right there.”
Of the three Upper Lake wrestlers who did not qualify for the final day of the competition, James McCloud (160 pounds) did the best, posting a 3-2 record.
“I”m real proud of all my guys,” Cox said.
Upper Lake travels to Point Arena on Wednesday for a tri-meet that also includes Kelseyville. The Cougars will split up into two groups this Saturday, with a handful going to the San Marin Tournament in Novato and a younger group headed to Sutter.
