FREMONT — Upper Lake High School 140-pounder Brandon Sneathen advanced to the semifinals before settling for sixth place on Saturday as the two-day Mission San Jose Invitational Wrestling Tournament drew to a close at Mission San Jose High School in Fremont.
Sneathen, the No. 2 seed in his weight class, won his first two matches on Friday and was the only Lake County wrestler to reach the second day of the tournament, one of the toughest in the state, still in the winner”s bracket. In his first match Saturday he beat Mansoor Ezat of American High School by a 12-2 major decision. Later that day Sneathen dropped a 14-9 decision to Nate Vincent of Dublin in the semifinals.
Already assured of a medal after his quarterfinal-round victory (medals are awarded to the top six in each weight class), Sneathen was unable to return for his next match in the consolation bracket because of a knee injury he sustained in the loss to Vincent. He ended up forfeiting that match as well as the fifth-place match late Saturday.
“He hurt his knee a little bit,” Upper Lake assistant head coach Ron Campos said. “We didn”t want to chance it.”
Two other Upper Lake wrestlers, Fwee Chao at 112 pounds and Travis Coleman at 119 pounds, lost their first matches on Saturday in the consolation bracket and were eliminated from the tournament.
Olympic gold medalist Dave Schultz (1984) was in the Upper Lake corner during Sneathen”s matches on Saturday, a highlight for all involved, according to Campos.
“He is so gracious,” Campos said of Schultz.
In other wrestling action Saturday, the Lower Lake Trojans took five athletes to the Ukiah Tournament and all of them won at least one match before being eliminated.
Justin Harrison won his first three matches by pin at 215 pounds to reach the finals, where he lost to Sutter Union”s Austin Moorehead.
Moorehead was leading 2-1 going to the second round and Harrison opted to start in the down position.
“It was a mistake,” Lower Lake coach Ed Fuchs said. “As soon as he (Moorehead) threw the legs in it it was over. Harrison fought it for about a minute.”
Moorehead”s second-round pin was only the third loss in 33 matches for Harrison this season and his first by pin.
Lower Lake”s next best finish was Brandon Painchaud”s fourth-place effort at 119 pounds, where he went 2-2. Painchaud won his first match by pin and his next by a 9-7 overtime decision before losing to No. 1 seed Ty Stevenson of McKinleyville by first-round pin in the semifinals.
In the battle for third place, Salvador Guzman of Healdsburg beat Painchaud 6-0.
Also for Lower Lake, Thomas Cross went 1-2 at 135 pounds, Emanuel Simms went 1-2 at 160 pounds, and Michael Payne went 1-2 at 189 pounds.
“The disappointing part was taking only five wrestlers over there,” Fuchs said. “The good part was that all five won at least one match.”
Lower Lake returns to action along with Point Arena on Wednesday at Fort Bragg in a Coastal Mountain Conference tri-team meet.
Upper Lake hosts St. Helena and Clear Lake on Wednesday. Both matches start at 5 p.m.
